DENVER – What a difference a day makes.
 
Twenty-four hours after a disappointing home loss to Westminster in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference opener, MSU Denver bounced back with a shockingly easy 73-50 victory Sunday over Colorado Mesa, the defending RMAC Tournament champions picked to finish second in the league.
 
"You could see it in the locker room before the game," Roadrunner wing Tyrei Randall said. "Everybody came here focused. We should've done the same thing yesterday, to be honest, but I'm glad that we woke up and bounced back."
 
Randall was a one-man bouncing crew early, scoring 24 first-half points – a figure that surpassed his previous career best of 23 – en route to 31 points. The 6-foot-6 junior drained 6 of 8 from 3-point range in the first half and was 7 of 10 from distance for the game.
 
"I'm just like that," Randall said. "Once I get going, it can be hard to stop."
 
Beginning with a 3 on the game's first possession, Randall scored MSU Denver's first 13 points in a span of less than seven minutes. He scored 16 of MSU Denver's points as the lead was built to 23-12, scored again to make it 25-12 and hit a 3 to make it 28-12.
 
He capped the first half with yet another triple to make it 38-17 at half, or, scored another way: Randall 24, Mesa 17.
 
Over his last four games, Randall is 16 for 25 (64.0 percent) from 3-point range. He was two short of tying the program record of nine made 3s in a game. Oh, and he matched a career high with eight rebounds, too.
 
"He's done a phenomenal job," MSU Denver Coach Michael Bahl said. "He's come into his own and let the game come to him. His energy and enthusiasm, I think he's grown so much. His growth as a man has been so impactful for us, and it translates into the game."
 
The second half was anticlimactic. MSU Denver (7-1) kept the Mavericks at bay.
 
"I don't know why it is, but sometimes you can see that as a team you're being too casual," Bahl said, evaluating his team's 6-0 start. "We think we're a pretty good team, but sometimes you forget to show up. Give Westminster credit, they put it to us, but sometimes you need a wakeup call. There's a reason teams don't go undefeated throughout the season.
 
"It's easy to get up for Colorado Mesa and what coach (Mike) DeGeorge has done there. They've won the league the past two years and they've been the No. 1 team in the country. We told our guys in the locker room before the game that this might be the game that defines our year.
 
"Everything is good when it's sunny and 85 degrees outside. How are you when it's cold and your car doesn't start and you have a flat tire? We manned up and collectively, as a team, our guys really responded."
 
Randall's performance was so impressive that it overshadowed another signature Laolu Oke game – 17 rebounds for the player who went into the weekend as Division II's leading rebounder at 14.0 per game. He
was held to a season-low seven by a physical Westminster.
 
"Mesa was also very physical, but I've got to find my way around it," Oke said. "And I've got to continue to be aggressive. I got two fouls called on me being aggressive trying to get rebounds, but I have to continue doing that, because that's what I do."
 
Keyshaad Dixon dished out 11 assists, tied for the most by an MSU Denver player since Luke Kendall had 12 in a 93-79 win over Chadron State on Feb. 10, 2004. And Miles Gibson had a workmanlike double-double of 11 points and 10 rebounds.
 
MSU Denver grabbed 12 offensive rebounds and pounded Mesa on the boards with a 49-28 advantage.
 
"We were minus 14 on the glass against Westminster, and we should never be outrebounded like that," Bahl said. "All of a sudden, against a pretty good rebounding team, we were plus 21. I'm not sure how that turnaround happens, but we challenged our guys.
 
"We challenged Miles and Laolu. Miles had no rebounds yesterday, and that's unacceptable for him. We told him that, and he comes out and gets 10 today. And Lou was just Lou."
 
And Colorado Mesa, shooting 49.8 percent from the field coming into the game, shot 19.2 percent in the first half (5 of 26) and 28.3 percent (15 of 53) for the game.

The Mavericks' field goal percentage was the lowest for an MSU Denver opponent since Colorado College shot 28.1 percent in a 79-47 Roadrunners win on Dec. 3, 2019 and was the lowest by an RMAC opponent since Black Hills State shot 27.8 percent while losing to MSU Denver 67-40 on Dec. 3, 2016.

The Mavericks' point total was the lowest since the aforementioned Colorado College game and was the lowest from an RMAC opponent since MSU Denver's 62-47 win at Chadron State on Feb. 9, 2018.
 
"Coach (Jeremy) Johnston deserves the majority of the credit – it was his scout," Bahl said. "It was simple enough that our guys could execute it, and we had our guys' attention. We did a really good job of focusing on who we were guarding and how we were guarding them.
 
"We decided that if we were going to lose, then they were going to have to make jump shots. We took a chance and we got them to miss some shots."
 
Said Randall: "One of the top offensive teams in the country and we held them to 25 percent from the field. That shows that we can play defense."
 
After what appears to have been a Saturday hiccup, MSU Denver's show-me season seems to be back on track.
 
"I think we needed that," Oke said of Saturday's loss. "I think we needed to feel what it feels like to lose. It fueled us today, and we bounced back."
 
Said Randall: "It takes one (bad loss) sometimes, and with the team we've got, I'm glad we got it early. Because we're going to be special."