DENVER – Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. And nothing is more attractive than a hard-fought, come-from-behind win over a nationally-ranked opponent.
 
MSU Denver rallied from an 11-point second-half deficit with a huge late-game run spurred by the shooting of Mitch Lombard and Druce Asah, then held on in the closing minutes with a determined defensive effort led by Kendall McIntosh for a 60-57 victory over Nos. 19/19 Dixie State on Friday night.
 
"We make a couple of shots, get a couple of stops, and how hard we played was contagious," Metropolitan State University of Denver coach Michael Bahl said. "You could tell that everyone cared about the group. No one cared about himself, and they bought into each other.
 
"And that's MSU Denver basketball at its finest. It's not always going to be pretty. Pretty doesn't win. Sometimes toughness wins. And I thought the guys did a phenomenal job of hanging in there and being a team."
 
Lombard led the way with a game-high 18 points on 8 of 9 shooting from the field while grabbing six rebounds and handing out a game-high four assists. Asah added 15 points, while Elijah Straughter had eight points, seven rebounds and two blocked shots as the Roadrunners improved to 7-7 overall and 3-5 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.
 
In earning its first win over a ranked team since beating future NBA player Derrick White and UCCS (ranked Nos. 18 and 20) on Feb. 28, 2015, MSU Denver dug out of a 12-point first-half hole to get within 31-24 at the break. It was eerily similar to last Friday, when the Roadrunners trailed Fort Lewis 32-25 at the half but couldn't come back and suffered the first of two weekend losses.
 
"We just believed in each other," Asah said. "The coaches told us that we were down by the same amount of points against Fort Lewis. The only difference is that we came in knowing we were going to get it done. We stuck together when things got hard."
 
And it did get a little harder.
 
The Roadrunners turned it over on their first three possessions of the second half and found themselves down 35-24. And Dixie State (11-3 overall, 6-2 and tied for first in the RMAC) still led 46-37 with 8:48 left.
 
But a rally was coming.
 
Cain van Heyningen and Asah got back-to-back buckets to make it 46-41, and then Asah hit a 3 and suddenly it was 46-44.
 
Then Lombard took over, with a steal and fast-break layup that tied the game. And when he broke out his maddening 3-point set shot, Lombard gave the Roadrunners a 49-46 lead (their first since it was 4-2 in the opening minutes) to cap a 12-0 burst with in just over three minutes.
 
"We trusted each other and worked with each other to get the best shot possible for the entire shot clock – I can't remember how many times the shot clock was under 10," Lombard said. "People might think that's bad offense, but it's a good way to get the best look."
 
Lombard – and the Roadrunners – weren't done yet, as the senior point guard hit another 3 to make it 52-48 with 4:17 left. Lombard, 2 for 3 from long range Friday, is now 11 for 21 from deep for the season for 52.4 percent.
 
"It's going to be harder for people to guard us when he does that," Bahl said. "And his teammates are trying to find him and they trust him."
 
The run reached 19-4 as Asah scored on a fast-break layup after a McIntosh blocked shot to give MSU Denver a 56-50 lead with 2:55 to go.
 
While Lombard was doing his thing running the offense, McIntosh was a force on both ends of the floor.
 
Not only did his blocked shots set up Lombard's last 3 and Asah's fast-break layup, he also scored a layup of his own in between. McIntosh then sank two free throws with 1:08 left to make it 58-55, and then he had his third blocked shot in a span of 3:47 with 51 seconds left.
 
"He has so much versatility defensively, with his ability to cover ground and guard the perimeter, to rebound and block shots," Bahl said. "That's what we need from him, and he's been a stud. I haven't started him the last two games and he hasn't said a thing about it. He's said, 'I just want to win.' And that's what matters."
 
McIntosh's last block set up the Roadrunners' final possession. It was more quintessential Lombard.
 
He drove the lane against Dixie State star Jack Pagenkopf, who at 6-foot-3 is two inches taller than Lombard. Lombard came to a jump stop in the lane, waited, then flipped up a twisting half-hook that found the bottom of the net, making it 60-55 with 22 seconds left.
 
"That's all we saw in practice all last year (Lombard redshirted after transferring to MSU Denver), and it's so frustrating because it's so unusual that you can't time it," Bahl said. "He just has an unorthodox game."
 
Pagenkopf was fouled on a 3 and made two free throws with 16 seconds left, and the Trailblazers were awarded the ball after it went out of bounds following a physical scramble with 9.6 seconds to go. But MSU Denver defended the 3-point line well and won it as Pagenkopf's potential game-tying 3 at the buzzer was off-target.
 
It was a big win for an MSU Denver team that is arguably seven points away from being 6-2 in the RMAC (the Roadrunners lost three league games by a total of four points). As a reminder, there is a three-way tie for first in the RMAC at 6-2.
 
"It's a huge win for us," Lombard said. "We're exactly halfway through our season right now, so we feel like this is a turning point for us. It proves we're a good team, and every team needs that confidence."
 
Not only are there 14 games left, all 14 are league games.
 
"This shows that we're a good team, a force to be reckoned with," Asah said. "You can't come in here and get easy wins. We did the best we could protecting our home court. This puts us in a good spot. We're looking forward to tomorrow, and if we can get a win it will put us right back where we're supposed to be."
 
The Roadrunners play host to Westminster (9-5, 4-4) in a 7 p.m. game Saturday at the Auraria Event Center. The game will be televised locally on Channel 20.
 
"To finally get one of these (close wins), it kind of makes up for (some of the close losses)," Bahl said. "And there's so much parity in the league that no one is ever out of it. We just have to stay the course and not get frustrated.
 
"Westminster is almost identical to Dixie State. Tough, physical Utah boys. They run their stuff. They guard. It's going to be a tough, physical game."