DENVER – MSU Denver's five-game men's basketball winning streak came to an end Saturday night, but it took another of the league's hottest teams playing at a high level for it to happen.
Black Hills State, which had won six straight games before an upset loss Friday, shot 57.4 percent from the field, 50.0 percent from 3-point range and held MSU Denver to just seven offensive rebounds in an 85-73 victory that wrapped up the regular season.
"They did a really nice job of being physical with us," MSU Denver coach
Michael Bahl said. "And this is the first time we've played on back-to-back nights in almost a month and a half, which is something new. But give credit to Black Hills State. They were coming off a tough loss last night, and we knew this would be a fight.
"Our guys competed. At times you could see our frustration come out, which is a learning process for a young team. It's something to build off. We don't make excuses. Tonight, Black Hills beat us, and we're ready to move on to Tuesday."
The Roadrunners (9-7 overall, 9-6 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) are back at home Tuesday and will play host to Adams State in a first-round game in the eight-team RMAC Tournament as the No. 5 seed.
MSU Denver finished a half-game behind Black Hills State (10-6, 10-6) for third place in the league. Black Hills State also earned the No. 3 seed through the league's point system.
Black Hills State, which came into the game shooting 51.0 percent from the field as a team for the season, made 53.6 percent of its shots in taking a 39-32 halftime lead, then made 61.5 percent (16 of 26) after the break. The Yellow Jackets' overall field goal and 3-point shooting (10 of 20) were the best by an MSU Denver opponent since the first game of the season.
And while
Laolu Oke had another workmanlike double-double of 12 points and 13 rebounds (his third straight double-double, sixth in seven games and ninth of the season), the Yellow Jackets in general did a good job keeping MSU Denver off the glass. Only twice this season has MSU Denver had fewer offensive rebounds.
"They played harder," Oke said. "It seemed like they wanted it more. We just weren't ready at times. I felt like we could have played harder throughout the game, and it showed."
Five Roadrunners scored in double figures – besides Oke,
Maris Colton and
Tyrei Randall each had 13, while
Keyshaad Dixon and
Kobe Sanders both had 10 – but MSU Denver was held to 40.3 percent shooting.
Besides keeping Oke off the glass, slowing down the red-hot Sanders was a clear priority for Black Hills State. Sanders, who had made 19 of his last 28 from 3 coming into the game, was held to only one shot attempt in the first half, primarily by the strong defense of Sindou Cisse.
Sanders got his second-half points primarily by driving.
Still, despite a disjointed night, there was MSU Denver trailing just 59-58 with 9:08 left after an Oke jump shot.
But Black Hills State responded with an 11-2 run for a 70-60 lead with 6:38 to play and the Roadrunners never could close that gap.
"Our guys need to get used to games like this," Bahl said. "Playoff time is right around the corner and this was a playoff-type game. These are learning moments for our team. We're still a young team. Incredibly young, and with a bunch of new guys. And our guys have to understand that the games are going to be difficult. Sometimes you need to go through games like this to understand what playoff basketball is.
"We're lucky enough that we put ourselves in a situation where our season doesn't end tonight. For a lot of teams in the country, their season does end tonight."
