Western Colorado University Athletics

DENVER --- The Western Colorado men's basketball team battled, but fell just short in a 74-72 loss to MSU Denver on Saturday at Auraria Event Center.
 
The Mountaineers (0-3 overall, 0-2 RMAC) took a 69-66 lead over the Roadrunners (1-3, 1-2) on a Matthew Ragsdale 3-pointer with 2:20 remaining in the contest before MSU Denver answered with their own 3-pointer on the next possession to tie it up.
 
Western's Jackson Ehrlin was fouled at the 1:32 mark and split a pair of free throws to give the Mountaineers a one-point advantage before MSU Denver's Keyshaad Dixon drained a 3-pointer to give the Roadrunners a 72-70 lead with 1:14 remaining.
 
Coming out of a Western timeout, Avery Rembao hit a pull-up jumper near the top of the arc coming off an Ehrlin screen to tie the game 72-72 with 52 seconds left.
 
MSU Denver's Laolu Oke was fouled on a dunk attempt with 13 seconds left and hit both free throws to give the Roadrunners a 74-72 lead. The Mountaineers dribbled near midcourt and called timeout with 8.9 seconds left. Western got the ball in the hands of Ragsdale and he took a contested 3-pointer with four seconds left, but it was off the mark and the Roadrunners ran the clock out to come away with the win.
 
Ragsdale had a huge second half for the Mountaineers, scoring all 22 of his points in the final 20 minutes while adding four rebounds. Rembao had 14 points to go along with six rebounds for the Mountaineers while Ehrlin finished with his second double-double in three games, going for 13 points and a career-high 14 rebounds.
 
Mavrick Gildyard led MSU Denver with 15 points while Kobe Sanders had a double-double with 12 points and 10 assists.
 
The Mountaineers return to action Friday as they travel to take on Colorado School of Mines before taking on Regis on the road on Saturday.