DENVER – It's always good to learn lessons while winning.
The third and most spectacular of
Jaden Kennis' three jaw-dropping dunks gave MSU Denver a 61-47 lead Friday night against New Mexico Highlands and nearly lifted the lid off the Auraria Event Center.
With 5:48 left to play, it was game over, right?
Not quite.
Just 2:33 later, Highlands had scored 15 straight points and took its first lead since early in the game at 62-61.
Nevertheless, the Roadrunners recovered and posted a 73-66 win to get back on track and snap a four-game losing streak.
"We've got to learn how to play with the lead and how to put a team away," MSU Denver coach Dan Ficke said. "I thought there were three or four times in the first half where we could have put the knockout blow on them, and then Jaden's dunk was unbelievable but we were very immature with how we handled that afterwards – his technical (a taunt) and our bench.
"It wasn't over. There was a lot of time left."
After Highlands took the lead,
Tyrei Randall hit two free throws and then Kennis knocked down a corner 3 for a 66-62 lead with 2:12 left. Highlands inched within two points twice more, but three Randall free throws in the final 36 seconds and a late layup by
Caleb McGill sealed the deal.
"It was a win that we needed," guard
Quave Propst-Allison said. "We were hungry. We're coming off a bad December, so it's a new year, new us. Now it's on to the next game. We're happy, but it's 'not too high, not too low.'"
Can we get back to the dunk please?
OK.
Driving in from the left wing, the 6-foot-4 Kennis saw an open lane in front of him.
"I didn't really care who was going to jump with me," Kennis said.
A 6-11 defender – that's right, 6-11 – rotated over to contest it, but it didn't matter as Kennis threw it down one-handed.
"I didn't see anybody in the lane and I saw his cradle," Propst-Allison said. "We see it all the time in practice."
As it turned out, Kennis' clutch 3 a few minutes later might have been the bigger bucket. The redshirt freshman is an impressive 42.0-percent shooter (21 of 50) from 3-point range this season and made 2 of 5 on Friday.
"I can jump a little," Kennis said. "I try to focus on things other than dunking – I mean, they happen and it's great – but the real game is what you can do outside of it."
Kennis finished with 16 points – one short of his career high. He also shared some of the responsibility, along with true freshman
Yaw Reneer, in limiting high-scoring Dante Moses to 4 of 12 shooting from the field.
"Jaden is one of our most competitive guys," Ficke said. "He brings a level of toughness.
"And he's not afraid to be challenged. He and I had some words in practice this week and I told him after the game that 'Hey, if I've got to yell at you to get you to play like this, I'll do it every time.' But I'm so proud of him. Where he's gone, from when we got here (as a coaching staff in April) to now … he gets better every week. Tonight the 3 wasn't his best weapon, so he was driving and finishing. The sky is the limit for what he can do for us."
Propst-Allison, a true freshman, scored a career-best 11 points and McGill added 11 as the Roadrunners were plus-22 in the 26 minutes McGill was on the floor. Randall scored 10.
"Our leading scorers were Jaden, Quave and Caleb – all are young guys," Ficke said. "And we got a win when Tyrei didn't shoot as well. Hopefully that gives Tyrei confidence in his teammates and it gives our guys confidence knowing that if we get Tyrei going on top of it, the sky is the limit for where we could be 15 games from now."
Still, there's those lessons to be learned.
MSU Denver led 9-2 to start the game, but then fell behind 10-9. Up 31-22, but then outscored 8-3 to see the lead cut to 34-30. Led 39-30 early in the second half, but then gave up seven straight points. Led 45-37, but then led 45-43. And then came the too-close-for-comfort end game after Kennis' slam.
"That's something we've been working on a lot, just trying to keep our foot on the gas pedal," Kennis said. "We'd like to put teams away early and play with the lead. Coach says all that time that it seems like we like to play in close games, but personally I don't really like it. We've got to work on it, but they fought."
Now, for the first time this season, the Roadrunners will try to post back-to-back wins against Division II opponents in Saturday's 6 p.m. game against CSU Pueblo.
"We needed a win," Ficke said. "The guys have been working really hard, going through the grind. We've had really hard practices the last two weeks. They needed a win to build some confidence, and then hopefully we can stack one of top of it with a win tomorrow."
Said Propst-Allison: "We have to come in with the same intensity as tonight, but even more focused. We had a few things tonight that could have cost us the game. So if we can fix those, tomorrow could be even better for us."
