DENVER, Colo. – The Cowboys gave the Roadrunners all they could handle for the beginning of the game, but a 12-0 run helped propel Metropolitan State University of Denver (10-2, 5-1 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) to a 78-47 win against New Mexico Highlands (1-8, 1-6 RMAC) Friday night in Denver, Colo.
Both teams failed to score in the games opening three minutes before a triple by Jourdon Hunter – who led the Roadrunners with 21 points on 7-10 shooting from beyond the arc – opened scoring in the game. Junior
Jonathon Mines hit a pair from the line before junior
Matthew Logan hit a triple to put the visitors up 5-3. Mitch McCarron, who scored 14 points for MSU Denver, split from the line and hit a fastbreak dunk to put the home team back up, but sophomore
Ricky Norris answered back with a fastbreak layup and junior
Kendrick Nichols drained a triple to put Highlands up 10-6 with 14:27 left in the first half.
Nichols led the Cowboys with 21 points while no one else scored more than seven. MSU Denver was able to use a 17-8 edge in turnovers to hold Highlands to only 14 field goals – seven in each half.
Tied at 17 with 10:12 left, the Roadrunners scored 12 straight in the next four minutes – and held the Cowboys without a field goal for about six minutes – to blow the game open. Nicholas Kay, who added 18 points for the home team, put MSU Denver in the lead for good with a tip-in and a jumper. McCarron hit a triple and a old-fashioned three by Kay quickly pushed the deficit to double-digits. Kay capped the run with a layup.
The Cowboys return to action tomorrow at Regis at 5 p.m.
