DENVER – Some nights the ball won't go in the basket.
 
And sometimes an undefeated, nationally-ranked opponent can help that happen to you.
 
A little bit of both took place Friday as MSU Denver dropped a 72-57 decision to Nos. 9 and 16 Colorado Mesa.
 
"They took away some of the things we wanted to do," MSU Denver coach Michael Bahl said. "We weren't able to capitalize on some of the shots we had early – I thought we had some decent looks, missed some layups. And then we let our offense dictate our defense too much."
 
The 15-point loss was in some ways spookily similar to a 15-point loss (83-68) suffered at Colorado Mesa on Dec. 5.
 
The Roadrunners shot 31.7 percent Friday after shooting 31.6 perfect in the first meeting. They made 5 of 25 from 3-point range after making 5 of 26 in the initial outing. Mesa shot 46.2 percent and made 10 of 26 from 3 on Friday after shooting 48.2 percent overall and 10 of 22 from 3 in the first go-round.
 
"We just weren't very good," Bahl said. "And that's on me. We weren't ready to play and that's on me."
 
The first loss to Mesa was the final leg of an 0-3 start to the season, which the Roadrunners eventually turned around by winning three straight games. Then came the long holiday layoff and three postponed games to go with one game, a narrow home defeat to Adams State.
 
Friday's Mesa matchup came after MSU Denver (3-5 overall, 3-4 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) had played just one game in 29 days.
 
"It was a tough shooting night," said Tyrei Randall, who scored a team-high 15 points. "We're just trying to get our rhythm back and get back where we need to be. We need to share the ball more, and if we do that it makes everything easier for everybody. There's a couple of things we have to tweak."
 
Reinforcing Randall's observation, MSU Denver had just seven assists on 20 field goals, for a ratio of 35 percent. In the first four games after the first Mesa meeting, MSU Denver had 63 assists on 116 baskets, for 54.3 percent. The first game with the Mavericks, MSU had eight assists on 24 buckets (33.3 percent).
 
Still, it may have looked like Mesa was going to cruise to 8-0, both overall and in the RMAC, when it built a 54-36 lead with 12:53 left.
 
But a quick 13-3 run got MSU Denver within 57-49, with possession, with seven minutes left. But Mavrick Gildyard was unable to connect on a shot in the lane.
 
Mesa pushed the lead back to 62-49, but back came the Roadrunners to close within 62-53. Then they had three straight empty possessions before Gildyard hit two free throws to make it 62-55 with 2:59 left. But they could get no closer.
 
"That shows that our team can fight," Randall said. "And if we continue to keep fighting like this against a ranked team, it shows that we can do whatever we want if we put our minds to it. We've just got to get our mindset there. If we do that, we can be one of the best teams in the conference.


Said Bahl: "The guys competed and we had a couple of missed opportunities. When you have opportunities against good teams you have to capitalize, and it's on me as the head coach for not having the guys prepared for that moment."
 
Gildyard scored 12 points for MSU Denver, while Kobe Sanders added 10. Laolu Oke, Division II's national leader in offensive rebounds (6.5 per game) and leader among players who have played more than two games with an average of 12.3 total rebounds per game, was held to six points and nine rebounds (two offensive).
 
MSU Denver will try to bounce back in a 6 p.m. home game Saturday against Westminster (5-2, 5-2). The Roadrunners fell 56-55 at Westminster on Dec. 4.
 
"Westminster is a team that has been playing good basketball," Bahl said. "They do what they do. They play hard and they're competitive."
 
Said Randall: "We feel confident. We've got to come back and get a split. We need to get back to what we know we can do."