GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – Tyrei Randall made a miraculous shot from three-quarters of the length of the court – from the sideline in front of the team bench no less – swishing the 3-pointer at the overtime buzzer to lift MSU Denver to a thrilling 85-84 victory over Colorado Mesa on Friday night.
 
MSU Denver trailed by four points twice in the final minute of the overtime, but Randall kept the Roadrunners alive with two clutch 3-pointers, including a fadeaway in the corner with 2.4 seconds left.
 
The Roadrunners quickly fouled Georgie Dancer, who made the first of two free throws. The second shot kicked wide and over the head of Randall, who was lined up in the lower lane position. Tracking it down gave Randall a running start, and his two-handed heave swished through.

"We were down four with seven seconds left and we draw up a play to get Ty a 3, and he makes it," MSU Denver coach Michael Bahl said. "Then the basketball gods were on our side. But what I'm most proud of is that we didn't panic and we executed what we work on every day in practice."
  
The officials signaled the basket was good and, after a six-minute delay for a video review and long discussion, confirmed the basket counted, clinching the improbable victory.
 
"Tyrei is a competitor," said Bahl, who said he's never been part of a game with a longer game-winning basket. "Tyrei didn't play as well as he would have liked, but he never gave up on himself or the team. He believed in himself and his teammates the whole time and he was ready to make some plays when his number was called." 

MSU Denver (12-2 overall, 6-2 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) led 64-58 with 4:30 left in regulation, but still needed a little good fortune to force overtime, as Ra'Shawn Langston banked in a 3-pointer with 16 seconds left to force the extra frame tied 70-70.
 
In overtime, Keyshaad Dixon's free throw gave MSU Denver a 72-70 lead with 2:59 to go, but Mesa's Trevor Baskin answered with a conventional three-point play and then a 3-point shot to give the Mavericks a 76-72 lead with 1:50 left.
 
Lalou Oke made two free throws for the Roadrunners, but Baskin answered with two of his own, and it was 78-74 Mesa with 1:23 to go.
 
Then Randall hit a 3 with 1:05 left, but Dancer answered with a 3 with 35 seconds to go. Mesa led 81-77.
 
Langston scored on a driving layup with 16 seconds left, pulling MSU Denver within two points. But Blaise Threatt made two free throws with 7.5 seconds to go, keeping Mesa's lead at four, 83-79.
 
Then Randall hit his 3 with 2.4 to go to set up the amazing final sequence.
 
"We work on those situations every day in practice, and our guys just believed we could still win the game and never gave up," Bahl said.

Colorado Mesa dropped to 13-6 and 7-3, just behind third-place MSU Denver in the RMAC standings.

"Give credit to both teams," Bahl said. "That was a great college basketball game. Both teams made big shots, and both teams deserved to win."
 
Oke had a double-double of 17 points and 12 rebounds for MSU Denver, while Langston scored a team-high 21 points. Gibson scored 15 points and had seven boards and two steals, and after his nine-points-65-seconds finish, Randall finished with 15 on 5 of 9 shooting from 3. Dixon had eight points and seven rebounds.
 
"I'm very proud of how hard our kids played, and now we have to regroup and validate tonight by playing with the same energy tomorrow against a really good Westminster team," Bahl said.