GOLDEN, Colo. – MSU Denver took a late lead but couldn't hold on at the end and dropped a 67-65 decision Tuesday night at Nos. 14 and 22 Colorado School of Mines.
 
"There was a lot to like this about this game, and now we need to learn how to finish these games," MSU Denver coach Dan Ficke said. "We got some bounces the first half of the year, and now the game is teaching us that we need to learn how to win games like this. Hopefully this makes us better the for the rest of the season."
 
A turnaround jumper by Brayden Maldonado with 2:32 left in the game put the Roadrunners ahead 62-60, and Marzouq Ibn Abdur-Razaaq added a free throw to make it 63-60 with 1:45 to play.
 
But Mines tied the game on a Sam Beskind 3-pointer, then forced a turnover and went ahead on a Majok Deng free throw with 52 seconds to play. MSU Denver misfired on its next shot, and Beskind made two free throws with 22 seconds left to put the Orediggers up 66-63.
 
Maldonado was fouled and made two free throws to get the Roadrunners within 66-65 with 18 seconds to go, and then Deng made 1 of 2 with six seconds left, making it 67-65.
 
Maldonado was short on a contested game-winning 3-point attempt, and Ryan Maslow missed a tying tip-in try at the buzzer as the Roadrunners dropped to 11-6 overall and 5-6 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.
 
Mines improved to 17-3 overall and 11-1 in the RMAC with its 13^th straight victory.
 
As usual, Mines had a huge edge in free throw attempts (28 to 12), outscoring the Roadrunners 23-7 on charity tosses. Mines picked up two points on technical fouls called on the Roadrunners, one in each half – one for taunting, another for flopping.
 
Mines also had a 12-2 advantage in second-chance points on the strength of nine offensive rebounds.
 
"Playing on the road against a top team in the conference, you have to rebound the ball and play without fouling," Ficke said. "That was the weakest part of our game tonight. We competed our butts off and executed offensively, but we sent them to the line too much and they got timely offensive rebounds.
 
"I'm proud of the way we're growing and developing, and we're just now starting to play our best basketball. We want to keep our heads high, learn from what beat us, and earn the right to play these guys again in the (RMAC) Tournament."
 
Abdur-Razaaq led the Roadrunners with a career-high 20 points, including 17 in the first half, while making all nine of his field goal attempts – he's now made 20 straight field goal attempts over the last three games. He's so hot that even one of his passes went in – a lob to Mario Lacy, Jr., wound up a made 3-pointer. Only once in program history has a Roadrunner been perfect on more than nine field goals in a game.
 
Caleb McGill had 15 points, including a pair of clutch second-half 3s, and Maldonado added 13 points and six rebounds.
 
MSU Denver plays host to Western Colorado on Saturday at 6 p.m. at the Auraria Event Center.