DENVER – With a nearly new team coming off a pretty decent preseason, the MSU Denver men's basketball team headed into league play back in December on the road against a Westminster team that was certainly solid but wasn't expected to be among the RMAC's nationally-ranked elite.
 
The 93-65 loss the Roadrunners took that night served as a wakeup call.
 
So MSU Denver was wide awake, fully dressed and had already had two cups of coffee when Westminster came to the Auraria Event Center for the return game Friday night, and produced a nearly opposite result in rolling to an 84-59 victory.
 
"It was the will that we had," senior wing Tyrei Randall said. "We came in this morning (for shootaround) and we knew what we had to do. We remember when they beat us by (28). That stuck with us, and it stayed with us the whole game."
 
Said MSU Denver coach Dan Ficke: "We talked all week about how they didn't get our best shot the first time we played them. And they're good. They've got guys who can score and they're physical defensively, but our guys were ready and they executed our gameplan – and it helps when Tyrei goes for 31."
 
That's right, the 6-foot-6 Randall's spectacular late-season run is continuing as the left-hander matched his career high of 31 while making 10 of 17 from the field, including 6 of 9 from 3-point territory, and all five of his free throws. He grabbed eight rebounds, too, his best against a Division II team this season.
 
"The game rewards you when you play it the right way and you do the right things," Ficke said. "And all year Tyrei – no matter what adversity we've faced – he's led, he's bought in, he's been there to have conversations with me if he felt like something wasn't going right.
 
"He's stepped up every step of the way, and now the ball going in is a reflection, I think, of what he's doing as a leader on the court and off the court as a young man."
 
Over his last six games, Randall is averaging 19.0 points while connecting on 58.1 percent from 3 (18 of 31). After surpassing 1,000 career points last week, Randall now has 1,043 for his career, including 884 in three seasons at MSU Denver.
 
"He's been in this conference for a while, so teams are definitely aware of him," freshman point guard Quave Propst-Allison said. "Once he gets hot, it's best to get him the ball any way we can, and then he can create for us as well. Teams are going to be so focused on him, we're going to get open shots and opportunities."
 
With Randall dialed in from deep, Caleb McGill worked the lane for 19 points on 7 of 11 shooting, Jaden Kennis scored 13 and Propst-Allison had 12 points and a career-high six assists.
 
Propst-Allison, in five games as a starter, is averaging 11.2 points.
 
"He's a dog, man," Randall said of Propst-Allison. "From the day he came in, you could feel the energy in him. Even before he was cleared to play in practice, he was at practice, talking. You know that once I leave, he's one that people are going to look up to and listen to. It's good to see him get the fruit from his labor."
 
Said Ficke: "He's being more efficient shooting the ball, had six assists and two turnovers tonight, which we'd love to see every night, and he's also guarding the ball extremely well. We can put him on the other team's best- or second-best guard and we feel like he can lock them down, even as a freshman."
 
The Roadrunners were highly efficient offensively, with 22 assists on 29 field goals, knocked down 11 of 25 from 3-point range (44.0 percent), including 8 of 14 while racing to a 44-27 halftime lead, and made all 15 of their free throws.
 
"We came in and executed the gameplan and got the results we wanted," Propst-Allison said. "We were ready to play. We were excited and having fun, and that's all you can ask for."
 
We may have skipped a fairly newsworthy detail, by the way.
 
With other results around the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference on Friday night, MSU Denver (10-13 overall) jumped from a tie for 10^th place into a five-way tie for seventh in the league at 7-10. (Westminster, at 10-14 and 9-9, is sixth.)
 
The top eight teams at the end of the regular season reach the RMAC Tournament. MSU Denver has five league games remaining.
 
"I've felt like our guys are ready to make a run," Ficke said. "The second half against (third-ranked) Black Hills State (a loss last Saturday) was disappointing, but we played really well against South Dakota Mines (the night before) and played a great first half (against Black Hills State).
 
"We're playing our best basketball right now. We've played really well since New Year's, but now is the time to take it to another level."
 
Another level arrives Saturday night when 19^th- and 22^nd-ranked Colorado Mesa rolls into town for a 6 p.m. game that will be televised on KWGN-Channel 2.
 
Though MSU Denver knocked off the Mavericks the night after that loss at Westminster back in December, Mesa has turned into one of the league's top teams – after winning big at Colorado School of Mines on Friday night, the Mavericks can claim road wins over the other three nationally-ranked RMAC teams (Black Hills State and Fort Lewis are the others).
 
"We've got a big opponent coming in that wants revenge on us the same way we wanted it against Westminster," Ficke said. "But hopefully we have some confidence knowing that we can compete with them. The way we've played against the top half of the league, we've shown we can play with anyone if we're locked in and ready to go."