DENVER – This is starting to get really, really interesting.
 
The MSU Denver men's basketball team won its fourth straight game Monday night, rolling to a 108-71 victory over CSU-Pueblo on a night of extreme offensive efficiency and on a night when Laolu Oke turned in a blocked dunk shot and an alley-oop dunk that would rank up there highly with any blocked dunk and any alley-oop you'll ever see at any level.
 
Very interesting, indeed.
 
"I think we're playing really well," Oke said. "But I think we still have another level to go. We can play even better."
 
Freshman guard Kobe Sanders continued his red-hot 3-point shooting, hitting his first four shots from long distance in the game's first 7:13. That made him a mere 11-for-13 from 3-point land in a little over two games.
 
"My confidence is coming, but it's just taking the best quality shot," said Sanders, who is at 43.0 percent (37 of 86) from 3 for the year. "At the beginning of the season, I was kind of forcing it. I'm just letting it come to me now."
 
On his way to a career-high 32 points – the most for an MSU Denver player since Cameron Williams scored 38 at UCCS on Feb. 17, 2018 – Sanders wound up needing only 14 field goal tries to get there.
 
"It's unbelievable, man," teammate Tyrei Randall said. "You should see that little dude in practice. He's one of the first guys in the gym getting shots up."
 
Sanders was 11 for 14 overall from the field and went 6 for 9 from 3. Just 14 games into his career, he's one of six players in program history to make at least six 3s in a game more than once – and he's done it twice in the last three games.
 
"You can see his natural talent," MSU Denver coach Michael Bahl said. "But he's such an unselfish kid that he doesn't want to do too much because he wants to be a team player. But what he didn't understand is that when you have night like this, we need him to do those things. He's a very willing passer. But he's understanding that there are shots we need him to take. I couldn't be more proud of his progression."
 
Sanders' fourth 3 made it 24-11, and there seemed little doubt about where this one was headed.
 
Oke's alley-oop slam from well above the rim on one of Keyshaad Dixon's seven assists made it 48-28 with 3:31 left in the half.
 
Oke, the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference's leader in rebounds, rebounds per game, offensive rebounds per game and defensive rebounds per game – he ranks in the top seven in NCAA Division II in all of those categories except defensive rebounds – had another business-as-usual night with 14 points and 15 rebounds. It's his seventh double-double of the season and his fourth in the last five games.
 
"I never have to get a rebound," Sanders said. "We've got the best rebounder in the country. Once he gets it, we're out and going."
 
That's even though Oke is clearly on the scouting report of every team, which tries desperately – and physically – to keep him off the glass.
 
"He's got a target on his back," Bahl said. "No one is going to just let you get 15 or 20 rebounds without behind physical against him. He's going to get fouled a lot more than what gets called, but you just have to keep going and keep going, and it was good to see him continue to do that."
 
MSU Denver scored 58 first-half points, its most in a half since getting 64 in the second half of a 101-86 win over Davis & Elkins (W.V.) on Nov. 25, 2016, and its most in a first half since getting 59 in an 85-66 win over Minnesota-Crookston on Nov. 16, 2008.
 
The Roadrunners shot 67.6 percent in the first half (23 of 34), including 9 of 13 from 3, then they went 7 for 16 from distance in the second half to finish 16 of 29 (57.1 percent).
 
The 16 made 3s was one short of the school record of 17 set against Dixie State (Utah) on Nov. 16, 2007.
 
"We were trusting each other and being in the right spots," Randall said. "We trusted that we would knock them down. And we did."

MSU Denver shot 64.0 percent from the field (32 of 50) for its best night since shooting a school-record 66.7 percent in a 102-68 win over Adams State on Dec. 11, 2004.
 
The 108 points were the most for the program since a 109-80 win at UCCS on Feb. 9, 2008.
 
And so on.
 
All that offense, but the play the stood out was on defense.
 
CSU-Pueblo's De'Shaun Cooper was set to throw down what would have been an impressive one-handed windmill dunk off a drive early in the second half. But Oke would have none of it. After doubling the post on one side of the lane, he rotated to the other side and simply met Cooper high in the air with his own one-arm windmill to stop the dunk cold.
 
"He was too far out," Oke said, smiling.
 
Said Bahl: "I thought the blocked shot was one of the best blocked shots I've seen, and I've played with some of the best guys who've ever played here – Lester Strong and all those guys. That was a phenomenal block."

What else is there? Plenty.
 
Randall had a quietly deadly 21 points to go with five rebounds, three assists and three steals. Dixon had 13 points on 6 of 7 shooting to go with his seven assists. Maris Colton had 12 points, four rebounds and two steals.
 
All 10 players who suited up scored.
 
And, oh yes, back to the beginning. That's four straight wins for MSU Denver, which is now 8-6 overall and solidly in third place in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference at 8-5.
 
National top 10 programs from Colorado School of Mines and Colorado Mesa appear to have to top two spots locked up, but MSU Denver is showing that it could possibly be the best of the rest. And who knows what could happen once the RMAC Tournament starts?
 
"A lot of what happens now has to do with how you handle success," Bahl said. "We've done a good job of dealing with setbacks and adversity, understanding that it's going to be hard and keeping our mental focus. Now it's the little things that go with the game. Winning helps. Now we can coach them hard and keep their attention."