DENVER – Maybe this was the night that the Metropolitan State University of Denver men's basketball team came of age.
 
A team with a practically all-new roster that includes four freshmen playing significant minutes, the Roadrunners lost two close games to solid teams to open the season.
 
Then Saturday, in the finale of the Hilton Garden Inn Cherry Creek Classic, MSU Denver simply went out and beat the best team it has played – and potentially the best team in the entire region. And the Roadrunners were at their best during a tour de force overtime period that gave them a 76-69 victory over Texas A&M-Commerce at the Auraria Event Center.
 
"You're seeing them mature before your eyes," MSU Denver coach Michael Bahl said. "Don't think for a second that it's going to be smooth sailing from here – I don't think any of us expect that. There will be more ups and downs. But to play the games we played, close games, two overtime games … it's going to do wonders for our guys."
 
Senior Enrique Cortes-Zotes led the way with 16 points, 10 rebounds, two steals and stellar defense on Reggie Reid, the Lone Star Conference's pre-season player of the year who had 13 points on 5 of 16 shooting.
 
"Just unbelievable," Bahl said. "Sixteen and 10 as a guard? We asked him to guard Reid, who is arguably one of the best players in the country and he did a phenomenal job on him. He's a senior. That's why you need them."
 
But everyone played a starring role in overtime.
 
Kendall McIntosh (Oakley, Calif./Freedom) threw down a huge tip-in dunk with 3:02 left in the extra session to put the Roadrunners ahead to stay at 63-61, then Cortes-Zotes scored on a driving left-handed layup to make it 65-61 with 2:24 to play.
 
The Roadrunners got a stop and redshirt freshman Elijah Straughter (Fresno, Calif./Clovis North) made two free throws with 2:04 to go for a six-point lead. Then Straughter took a nifty bounce pass in traffic from redshirt freshman point guard Marcus Jefferson (Lewisville, Texas/Lewisville) and scored to make it 69-63 with 59.4 to play.
 
"We knew we just had to come out and close," Straughter said. "The second half hurt us the last two games. We knew what we had to do, and we came out and got the job done."
 
MSU Denver, which struggled mightily at the free throw line last season and hasn't been great thus far this year, made 6 of 6 once the foul game started to keep Texas A&M-Commerce (5-2) at bay.
 
The Roadrunners were 11 of 12 from the line in the extra session.
 
"It's been a long time since we put a full game together," Bahl said. "But this is how we guard. We're good enough. We've got good players. Sometimes the ball doesn't bounce your way. But tonight we made some shots, hit 11 of 12 free throws down the stretch, and that ultimately won us the game."
 
Druce Asah (Tracy, Calif./Tracy) had 15 points, including 3 of 4 from 3-point range, as the Roadrunners were a solid 44.4 percent (8 of 18) from beyond the arc. They hit 6 of 11 from long distance in the first half.
 
"We had two hard losses, but we came out and played the game we know how to play," Asah said. "We stayed the course. Followed the game plan. We knew we could get it done. And we got it done."
 
McIntosh had 14 points and three devastating blocked shots. Jefferson scored 14, making 2 of 3 from long distance and all six of his free throws.
 
"We want to take this win and use it to catapult us into next week and into the conference," Jefferson said. "We want to come in with a bang and show everyone that (MSU Denver) is back."