RAPID CITY, S.D. – Mario Lacy, Jr., scored the first six points as Nos. 18/16 MSU Denver finished the game on an 8-0 run in the final 1:48 to pick up a gritty 95-87 victory Saturday night at South Dakota Mines.
 
The Roadrunners won despite being whistled for 26 fouls, having guard KJ Garrett ejected for a flagrant-2 foul and playing much of the game with their top players in foul trouble.
 
Tied 87-87 with 1:48 left, Lacy hit both ends of a one-and-one free throw opportunity to put MSU Denver ahead to stay.
 
The teams exchanged empty possessions, then Lacy stole the ball near the top of the key and drove the length of the floor for a dunk that made it 91-87 with 32.5 seconds left.
 
The Roadrunners got a stop and quickly went down the floor to Lacy for another dunk with 13 seconds left. Then Marzouq Ibn Abdur-Razaaq made two free throws for the game's final points.
 
"The last four minutes, Mario was huge," MSU Denver coach Dan Ficke said. "He'd had a rough patch earlier in the second half, and I'd gotten upset with him. He was upset with himself. But he responded when he went back in there – and that's the thing about 'Rio,' he always responds. He holds himself to a high standard."
 
MSU Denver improved to 8-2 overall and 2-2 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, while South Dakota Mines dropped to 4-6 and 2-2.
 
MSU Denver, averaging 17.0 fouls per game, was whistled for 15 fouls in the first half alone and South Dakota Mines, shooting an average of 17.6 free throws per game, shot 20 in the first half.
 
"We challenged the team after last night (a loss at Black Hills State) when we felt we were kind of soft, to be more physical in the paint, and we did that tonight," Ficke said. "And we responded, although I would have liked it if we'd had fewer fouls.
 
The foul total was MSU Denver's most in a game since Jan. 7, 2017, when it had 34 against Adams State. The Roadrunners have had 26 fouls in a game three times since then, most recently on Jan. 20, 2020 against Westminster.
 
Garrett was ejected when fouling a driving Alejandro Rama with 1:15 left in the half, but up stepped Quave Propst-Allison.
 
"Our bench was huge for us," Ficke said. "We've talked about all year about how we've needed our bench, and we really needed it when KJ got the flagrant-2. Quave answered the bell, not only shooting 60 percent from the field (6 of 10) and scoring 16 points, but he did a great job guarding Rama in the second half. The game ball went to Quave."
 
South Dakota Mines scored the first three points of the second half, but MSU Denver responded with the next nine to take a 55-49 advantage. The Roadrunners led most of the final 20 minutes, but weren't able to put the Hardrockers away until Lacy's final flourish.

The Hardrockers shot 38 free throws, making 30.
 
"South Dakota Mines is a good team and we weathered their runs, weathered the storm, and in the second half we did a great job of coming out and taking the lead early and giving ourselves a little cushion most of the time," Ficke said.
 
Guard Brayden Maldonado led MSU Denver with 20 points and also had three blocked shots.
 
Caleb McGill added 19 points and eight rebounds, Garrett scored 12 in 15 minutes and Lacy had 10 points and five rebounds while being limed to 22 minutes.
 
"Caleb and Brayden were great for us, KJ was great in the first half, and (Ryan) Maslow was great defensively and on the boards," Ficke said. "It was a total team effort. Everyone who played did something positive to help us win. We have a lot of new pieces on this team, and they are starting to understand how good this league is – and that it's hard to win on the road."