DENVER – The learning process continues for the MSU Denver men's basketball team.
 
The Roadrunners kept pace with nationally-ranked Colorado School of Mines for most of the game Friday night, but the tide turned in a five-minute stretch of the second half as the Orediggers put together a 13-1 run to take a 47-46 lead up to 60-47.
 
Mines (15-3 overall, 12-0 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference), ranked No. 23 in NCAA Division II by the coaches and No. 21 by sports information directors, then held on for its 14^th straight victory, 77-71.
 
MSU Denver (7-9, 5-7) lost for the fifth time in six games, but four of those losses have been by six points or less.
 
Roadrunners coach Michael Bahl said he's challenging his team to take control of the game's most critical moments.
 
"It's that two-minute or three-minute stretch where we need that one guy, or two guys, or three guys, on the floor to say forget about (what just happened) and let's get a (defensive) stop," Bahl said. "We need that leadership piece when things get bad, or even when things are going well. It's that one voice that we need on the court, instead of me or Coach (Jeremy) Johnston or the bench saying it. Because sometimes they can't hear me."
 
Mines' lead grew to 65-51 with 7:19 left before the Roadrunners started chipping away.
 
Garrett Carter (Rialto, Calif./Etiwanda) made three free throws to cut the deficit to five points, 66-61, with 3:57 left. Mines pushed the lead back to 11, at 72-61, with 2:20 to go, but back came MSU Denver, getting within 74-69 with 26 seconds left.
 
But Mines made 5 of 6 free throws in the final 31 seconds, enough to hold on.
 
"It's not a skill thing, not an Xs and Os thing," Bahl said. "It's a willingness to say, 'OK guys, I've got us. Don't worry about it.' And at times we've got guys who do it, and that's when we play really, really well.
 
"And we have guys who want to do it."
 
Carter scored 11 of his 19 points in the final 3:57, while redshirt freshman Elijah Straughter (Fresno, Calif./Clovis North) posted his first career double-double, scoring a career-best 10 points while grabbing 10 rebounds. Druce Asah (Tracy, Calif./Tracy) scored 14 points.
 
"We were up (41-40) with 17 minutes left, and we relaxed," Carter said. "Then they got a 14-point lead, and we had to play catch-up from there. We have to learn how to keep our composure and our style of play whether we're ahead or not."
 
The Roadrunners matched a season low with only eight turnovers, a drastic improvement from the 26 they had in a double-overtime defeat in their previous game.
 
"We took care of the basketball at a very high level," Bahl said. "That's the best we've had all year, and it was against a really good team.
 
"Elijah had a double-double in a big-time game like this, and we showed some fight and resiliency to cut it down to five."


In a season of near-misses, MSU Denver has lost six games by six points or less.
 
"We know we can beat any team," Straughter said. "We've competed with every team that we've played. So we're excited to get back out there tomorrow."
 
Another challenge awaits in Saturday's 7 p.m. game with the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. The Mountain Lions (13-5) are second in the RMAC at 9-3 and are bound to be motivated after having a 10-game winning streak snapped Friday night at Chadron State.
 
"We're back at it tomorrow," Carter said. "UCCS."