COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – MSU Denver went toe to toe with one of the top teams in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference on Friday night but came up just short in an 80-73 loss to UCCS.
 
Jaden Kennis scored 17 points, while Tyrei Randall had 15 and point guard Brayden Maldonado contributed 12 points, eight rebounds and three assists for the Roadrunners (6-9 overall, 3-6 RMAC).
 
"It was a great effort by our guys," MSU Denver coach Dan Ficke said. "They competed their tails off, and we did a lot of really good things. We rebounded extremely well both offensively and defensively, and that was our No. 1 priority. We wanted to take them out of their transition game, which we did.
 
"Ultimately what hurt us was their 3-point shooting the last seven minutes."
 
The Roadrunners held their last lead at 48-47 when Randall had a breakaway layup. A UCCS defender swatted both the ball and Randall's head on the follow through (no foul was called) and Randall was on the court recovering for slightly more than 90 seconds after MSU Denver got the offensive rebound (the play wasn't reviewed).
 
UCCS led 54-50 just under two minutes later when Randall (ironically) was charged with a flagrant foul (after review) on a play where he fouled the shooter across the arm just as the player went up for a breakaway layup.
 
One free throw and the ensuing possession later, UCCS led 57-50 with 10:10 left.
 
"To our guys' credit, we handled it well and came back and made a nice run," Ficke said. "But then they made a nice run at the end, unfortunately back. It was back and forth all game, and we just couldn't quite get over the hump. But we fought our hearts out the end."
 
Though MSU Denver got back with 57-56, it never led again.
 
The Roadrunners shot just 40.8 percent from the field, but kept themselves in the game by grabbing 17 offensive rebounds to match a season high.
 
UCCS, sixth in NCAA Division II with an average of 30.2 defensive rebounds per game, and second in the RMAC in both that caetory and rebounds per game, was outrebounded 41-36.
 
MSU Denver, 12^th in NCAA Division II with an average of 24 free throw attempts per game, managed just 15 trips to the charity stripe, making nine.
 
UCCS improved to 13-4 overall and 7-3 in the RMAC.
 
MSU Denver plays again Saturday at 5 p.m. at Regis (6-9, 3-6). Regis lost 93-61 Friday to Nos. 6 and 10 Colorado School of Mines.
 
"We've talked about how we've done a really good job – with the exception of one time – rebounding after a tough loss on the front end of a weekend," Ficke said. "We have to stay confident in what we're doing and battle tomorrow. It'll be two teams licking their wounds, and we'll have to dig deep and fight it out.
 
"We're continuing to get better and we're learning how to win games like this. We're playing a lot harder and a lot better than we were the first semester."