FORT SMITH, Ark. – The Rogers State men's basketball team opened the season with an exclamation point knocking off No. 18 Metropolitan State University of Denver, 71-50, at the Heartland Conference-RMAC Conference Challenge hosted by UA Fort Smith.
 
After taking a 13-point lead into the locker room at halftime, the Hillcats never relinquished the advantage in the second stanza.
 
RSU quickly pushed the advantage to 18 points in the second half with a layup by Matt Lea and a Travis Hester trey with 14 minutes to play. The Roadrunners cut the deficit to 11 points with a 7-0 run but J.C. Hartzler silenced the MSU Denver attack, driving to the basket and finishing a layup.
 
A block by Travis Julien and two free throws by Donald Moore pushed the Hillcats' advantage to 20 points with three minutes to play. RSU's largest lead of the contest came off a three-pointer by Jeylyn Sharpe launched from well beyond the arc as the shot clock expired to make it a 22-point game.
 
Andre Harris made the front side of his double bonus free throws to cut the RSU lead to 21 points, but the Cats ran out the final minute opening 2015-16 with a win avenging a season-opening loss suffered at MSU Denver a year ago.
 
In the opening frame, the Roadrunners took an early 7-3 advantage. The Hillcats had the answer and used a 15-2 run, highlighted by consecutive three-pointers from Huffman and Julien and capped by a Huffman layup, to take a nine-point lead with 12 minutes to play.

RSU held the advantage throughout the rest of the stanza. A slam dunk from Lea gave the Hillcats a 10-point lead and Hartzler kept the momentum going with a trey from the left corner to push RSU to a 34-22 advantage with 4:11 to play. RSU held the double-digit margin heading into the locker room at intermission, leading 39-26.
 
Hartzler led all scorers with 18 points while Sharpe and Moore each added 15 points to round out the Hillcats in double-digit scoring.
 
Harris was the lone Roadrunner to tally double digits with 17 points. MSU edged RSU on the boards, 36-33.

Rogers State (1-0) returns to action Saturday at the Conference Challenge against Western State Colorado at 2 p.m. Fans can listen live on the Hillcat Network at www.rsuhillcats.com/live.