DENVER – Heartache at Auraria.
 
MSU Denver was on the verge of completing the first major upset of the Dan Ficke coaching era Saturday night, leading 17^th-ranked (coaches poll) Fort Lewis by eight points with 1:35 to play after a thunderous dunk by Caleb McGill.
 
But Fort Lewis' JaQuaylon Mays hit two 3-pointers within 16 seconds after an MSU Denver turnover, then hit another 28 seconds later after another McGill dunk.
 
Still leading 76-75, MSU Denver missed a shot in the lane, got a stop, missed two free throws and then was charged with a foul on Akuel Kot's jumper with 1.5 seconds to go. Kot made both free throws to give the SkyHawks the lead, and then the Roadrunners' Tyrei Randall couldn't cap off a career game in heroic fashion, as his 3-pointer at the buzzer was right on target but bounced high after hitting the back of the rim.
 
Fort Lewis escaped, 77-76.
 
"We drew it up knowing we were going to go to him," Ficke said. "He had the hot hand playing and was playing great. You couldn't ask for a better look. But sometimes they just don't go in."
 
Said Randall: "It felt good. But that's part of basketball. That's what makes it fun."
 
Randall had plenty of fun Saturday, scoring a season-high 30 points while making his first nine shots from the field – four of them from 3 – and all eight of his free throws.
 
"I woke up today with a killer instinct," Randall said. "You don't get the chance to play one of the top-ranked teams in the country in your house very often. I just wanted to go out and do what I could do."
 
And he did.
 
"Tyrei has been stepping up and leading our team," Ficke said. "That's three games in a row where he's been able to lead us with his play as well as his words. I'm happy he's been reaping a few benefits offensively and has been able to build confidence in himself."
 
In his fifth season of college basketball – including two at Division I Rider – Randall has now scored 992 career points.
 
Before moving ahead in the final second, Fort Lewis hadn't been in the lead since a Randall 3 with 10:12 left gave the Roadrunners a 56-54 advantage. Fort Lewis (18-2 overall, 12-2 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) had tied the game 60-60 with 7:52 to go, but the Roadrunners (8-12, 5-9) responded with the next six points.
 
Before the largest crowd of the season, on Alumni Weekend, with the Roadrunners wearing throwback "Metro State" uniforms, and with members of the 2001-02 national championship team and coach Mike Dunlap being honored, it felt a little bit like old times at the Auraria Event Center.
 
"You can't ask for a better environment," Ficke said. "We want to play games in games like this against a top-15 opponent, and our goal is to be the other ranked team in that game. With the alumni back, we had unbelievable crowd support, and I hope the crowd and our alums see the effort our guys are putting in and will continue to support them as we get better. We're headed in the right direction."
 
They just wish they had that last 95 seconds back.
 
"We've talked about learning how to finish games," Ficke said. "A bad turnover led to a 3, and then we miss two free throws, and (Mays) walked into two open 3s because we didn't guard the ball screen right.
 
"It'll be a great film session on Monday on how to finish games."
 
Said Randall: "It hurts. We put in the work, but we just came up short. It shows us that if we lock down and decide to play, we can play with anybody.
 
"We're just now finding out who we truly are and what we can do. Now we've just got to go back to the drawing board, tweak a couple of things and be able to put away games."