DENVER – MSU Denver has had the magic touch against Colorado Mesa this season.
 
The Roadrunners' men's basketball team has twice knocked off Colorado Mesa – in one of their best games of the season, a 73-50 home win on Dec. 5, and on Jan. 14 on Tyrei Randall's 75-footer at the overtime buzzer.
 
MSU Denver will look to make it three in a row Tuesday, in a first-round game of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament. Tip off in Grand Junction, Colo., is at 7:30 p.m.
 
"We are playing a very good Colorado Mesa team, which is playing great basketball right now," MSU Denver coach Michael Bahl said. "They have our respect and we are going to have to play our best basketball in order to get the win."
 
Colorado Mesa finished the regular season 23-8 and earned the second seed for the RMAC Tournament after going 17-5 in league play.

MSU Denver is the seventh seed after 17-11 overall and 11-11 in the RMAC. Four of the Roadrunners league losses were by three points or less and results against Colorado Mesa, top seed Black Hills State (two losses by five or less, including a buzzer beater) and then-nationally ranked Regis (a win) indicate that anything can happen for this talented team.
 
The tournament's semifinals are Friday, with the league championship and automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament on the line Saturday.
 
"We couldn't be more excited for the opportunity to compete for a chance to make the NCAA Tournament," Bahl said. "It doesn't matter what has happened up to this point in the season. We have had some good wins and some hard loses. You just hope that we have learned from those experiences, and now it's win or go home.

"At the end of the day, I'm very confident in our players and staff, and we have earned the right to extend our season, and that's what we are planning to do."