DENVER – So, so close. Again.
 
The Metropolitan State University of Denver men's basketball team had a 12-point lead with 13 minutes left in regulation. Never trailed in the first overtime. Led by six with two minutes left in the second overtime.
 
But, in the end, New Mexico Highlands scored seven of the final eight points of the game and escaped the venerable Auraria Event Center with an 83-81 victory Saturday night.
 
"That's been a theme this year," MSU Denver coach Michael Bahl said. "We've gotten off to this kind of lead in almost every game this year, but the other team typically comes back on us – and that's what's disheartening as a coach. What can I do better so that when we get those leads we don't just give it away?
 
"Because I felt like, for the first 40 minutes, we were by far the better team. Then we get into overtime and we're in foul trouble, have different lineups out there and now it's sort of hit or miss."
 
Three times this season the Roadrunners (7-8 overall, 5-6 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) have come up short despite leading by 10 points or more. They've led by at least six points in three other setbacks. And they've lost four games by six points or less, including two of them in games that went to overtime.
 
It didn't look like it was going to be that way this time, but New Mexico Highlands (13-4, 8-3) staged a late rally to force extra basketball, even though scoring leaders Raquan Mitchell and Gerad Davis, both scoring a shade over 20 points per game, were held to 21 points total through regulation. Mitchell was 3 for 18 from the field at that point, while Davis was 4 for 9.
 
But Garrett Carter (Rialto, Calif./Etiwanda), who had the primary defensive responsibility on Mitchell had fouled out. So had Kendall McIntosh (Oakley, Calif./Freedom), the Roadrunners' main inside threat.
 
"Even though we needed them, a lot of guys stepped up," guard Druce Asah (Tracy, Calif./Tracy) said. "My freshman Demetrius (Jackson) hit some big-time shots. Elijah (Straughter) had a big-time game. Jaryn (Taylor) had a big-time game. Everybody saw that we were down two starters, but they stepped up. We didn't feel sorry for ourselves."
 
Jackson, who started the second half and had perhaps his best game of the season, hit a 3 at the start of each overtime period.
 
"Demetrius had a really nice game when we needed him the most," Bahl said. "We have a lot of guys who can play, it's just unfortunate that we have to be put in these situations on a repeated basis in order to learn from it.
 
"There's a reason why the same teams in the NBA and college basketball typically win close games. They know how to play in those situations. We're learning how to do it. It's gone both ways for us, but it just didn't go our way tonight."
 
Asah, who scored 23 points, followed up Jackson's 3 in the second overtime with one of his own to stretch the lead to 75-69. Taylor's conventional three-point play made it 78-72. But the Cowboys wouldn't go away.
 
Mitchell's 3 tied the game 81-81, and then Mitchell hit the first of two free throws with 25.7 seconds left to make it 82-81.
 
The Roadrunners rebounded the miss and brought it up the floor, hoping to take advantage of a good matchup against Taylor. But Taylor couldn't connect on a 3-pointer, and Straughter was off target with his shot from the baseline after getting the rebound. Highlands' Desmond Carpenter collected the miss and was fouled with a half-second left, then made 1 of 2 free throws for the final margin.
 
"It's 100 percent on me," Bahl said of the loss, reflecting on the final possession. "I should've called time out. I had a timeout on the board, and I should've called it. As soon as Jaryn got the ball on top, I should've burned it right there."
 
Often, though, teams can take advantages of mismatches without calling a timeout, which in the end only allows the defensive team to set up the way it wants.
 
"I thought the matchup with Jaryn, against their 5-man, was a good one," Bahl said. "I felt if we had called time out, they would've put a guard in there and we would've lost the advantage. The third play of overtime, Jaryn was able to get to the rim and get and 'and-one,' so we were hoping that would be the case. We had two seniors on the floor, and I trust my guys completely – it just didn't go our way at the end. But as a coach, you should never leave a timeout on the board."
 
Besides Asah's 23, Carter added 14 before fouling out with 3:43 left in regulation. McIntosh, limited to 25 minutes because of foul trouble, had 13 points before being disqualified with 4:11 left in the second overtime.
 
Jackson had a career-high 13 points while making 3 of 5 from 3. The 6-foot-7 Straughter grabbed a career-best 11 rebounds, had the primary defensive responsibility on Davis for most of the night, then guarded Mitchell the final few minutes of the second overtime.
 
Meawnhile the Roadrunners, who have struggled at the free-throw line (64.0 percent for the season) connected on 20 of 23 for 87.0 percent, many of them in clutch situations.
 
Highlands shot just 35.9 percent from the field for the game. Tenth nationally in scoring at 89.4 points per game, the Cowboys scored just 60 in regulation and only 83 in 50 minutes.
 
But the Cowboys also forced the Roadrunners into 26 turnovers.
 
"I think we guarded exactly how we wanted to guard," Bahl said. "Heck we played 50 minutes of basketball and they still didn't get their average. We executed the game plan. Unfortunately, we turned it over 26 times. It'd be hard to find any team that has ever done that and has actually won."