DENVER – Good win Friday. Good win Saturday.
 
Great weekend for the MSU Denver men's basketball team.
 
"After you go through a December like we did, it's just building confidence one day at a time," MSU Denver coach Dan Ficke said. "Hopefully after this weekend we can have the confidence that we should, but handle it better than we did after the (Colorado) Mesa win (on Dec. 3) going into two big games next weekend."
 
MSU Denver won a close-to-the-vest, no-lead-more-than-nine-points game Saturday night against CSU Pueblo, emerging with a 69-63 decision at the Auraria Event Center.
 
The Roadrunners trailed only briefly in the second half, and never by more than three points, after a first half in which they were scoreless for the first 5:10 but never trailed by more than six.
 
"We haven't been in many games where it's been super close all game," forward Caleb McGill said. "So it felt good to get a grind-it-out game under our belt. Every time we went into the huddle during a timeout, we just said this is the kind of game we expected and the kind of game we want. It felt really good to get a win."
 
After going 1-5 in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference games to open the season – including four straight losses after the win at Mesa – the Roadrunners are now back to 6-8 overall and are within sight of the top half of the league standings at 3-5.
 
"I think it's a good turning point for us," forward Yaw Reneer said. "We had lost four in a row, but by getting these two, I think we can start winning some games now."
 
After Tyrei Randall's jumper with 1:21 left gave MSU Denver its biggest lead of the night at 63-54, the Roadrunners made 6 of 8 free throws in the final minute to close it out.
 
Randall finished with 15 points and had three steals, Jaden Kennis scored 14 while making 2 of 4 from 3-point range, and McGill scored 13 while accumulating a plus-21 (no other player on either team was better than plus-7) while on the floor. McGill was a plus-22 in Friday's win over New Mexico Highlands.
 
"Our guys are confident when he's on the floor," Ficke said. "Defensively and offensively, he's a guy they can trust to make the right play, whether it's for himself or for them."
 
True freshman Yaw Reneer played his usual terrific defense while matching his career high of seven points and plucking a career-best eight rebounds.
 
"I was really just trying to get rebounds," Reneer said. "That's a good turning point for me. I was able to just find the ball and keep my team in the game."
 
Said Ficke: "We joke that he's a baby Draymond Green – he just does a little bit of everything, but I think he shoots it a little better. He doesn't turn it over. He rebounds. He defends the best player on the other team. As he grows as a player, we can add offense to that as well."
 
MSU Denver was just 10 of 30 from the field in the first half, despite connecting on 5 of 13 from 3-point range (38.5 percent). But the second half it was all-paint, all-the-time as the Roadrunners attempted only three from distance while shooting 52.6 percent overall (10 of 19) and 62.5 percent on twos (10 of 16).
 
"We play inside-out, try to get in the paint for kickout 3s," Reneer said. "But they really weren't stopping us in the paint, so there wasn't any reason to shoot 3s."
 
MSU Denver had a 40-8 advantage in bench points – though it helps when two of your top three scorers (Randall and Kennis) have been in a reserve role and led the team in minutes played.
 
"Right now, everyone is really buying into their role," McGill said. "Everyone is really trying to execute to the best of their ability. It was a big step for us to have a team effort to pull out a win."
 
Ficke was seeking more maturity from his team after a big second-half lead nearly slipped away in a win over Highlands. He got it.
 
"You saw a lot of growth tonight in areas that almost beat us last night," Ficke said. "I'm proud of our guys."