DENVER – Lockdown.
 
The MSU Denver men's basketball team struck a defensive posture Saturday night, shutting down Western Colorado in a 67-38 victory that stands as one of the best defensive games in program history.
 
"I told the guys at (pre-game) shootaround that these are the games that make me the most nervous, because you tend to look at a team's record, instead of what they are actually capable of, and you play down to that level," MSU Denver coach Dan Ficke said. "They had played (Colorado School of) Mines tough last night after winning two in a row.
 
"But the guys did a great job of making me relieved early on. Brayden (Maldonado) was locked in and aggressive, and we did a great job on that side of the ball in the first half."
 
MSU Denver (12-6 overall, 6-6 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) held the Mountaineers to 13 first-half points in building a 17-point advantage. Only three times has MSU Denver held a team to fewer points in a half, all of which were 12-point efforts – in the second half of a game against Queens (N.Y.)(on Nov. 16, 2001), and in the first half of games against Chadron State (Feb. 16, 2003), and Bethany (Kan.) (Dec. 19, 2003).
 
In the game against Queens, the Roadrunners went on to an 83-36 victory for the lowest point total allowed in program history. Only two other times, both 39 points, has MSU Denver held opponents under 40. The Roadrunners hadn't held a team under 50 since Dec. 3, 2019, when they roughed up Division III Colorado College 79-47.
 
"We saw in the Regis game (a 75-59 win last week) what we can do on the defensive end when we put in a full 40 minutes," wing Ryan Maslow said. "And we wanted to repeat that. We know that what we do on defense is going to spark our offense as well. We can get out and run, and we're a pretty deep team, so we want to use that to our advantage."
 
Western Colorado (6-12, 3-9) shot 27.3 percent from the field in the first half (6 of 22) before finishing at 32.7 percent (6 of 49). The Mountaineers were 1 of 13 from 3-point range (7.7 percent).
 
"When we lock in defensively, I think we can be one of the best defensive teams in the league," said Ficke, whose teams' best defensive point total against in his first 46 games as head coach had been 54.
 
Western Colorado also struggled at the free throw line, making 5 of 16 for the game (31.6 percent), including 1 of 9 in the first half (11.1 percent).
 
With KJ Garrett hounding the Mountaineers' point guards, Brayden Maldonado locked in against leading scorer Kade Juelfs and Maslow playing his usual high-energy style, MSU Denver controlled the game from the outset.
 
The 6-foot-7 Maslow is capable of guarding players at multiple positions – so capable in fact, that it may have hurt him offensively.
 
"Early in the year, he was the guy we were having guard the other team's best player," Ficke said. "And I think we ran him into the ground a little bit and that's why maybe his legs haven't been there for shooting.
 
"He does an unbelievable job defensively. He's so smart, anticipates, recovers, contests shots the right way, and rebounds. What I've told him is that, 'all the things you do outside of scoring is why you've been a starter.'"
 
Maslow, who did come off the bench Saturday, said he's relished the opportunity to play defensively in his first season after transferring from Belmont Abbey (N.C.), where he originally played for Ficke.
 
"I kind of came in here as a shooter," Maslow said. "But I've talked a lot with Ficke about – on the days when my shot isn't falling – defense will keep me on the court. That's something I want to make sure is consistent in my game, playing hard and playing defense."
 
Maslow found the shooting touch Saturday, making 3 of 6 from 3-point range while scoring 12 points, and he also pulled down a career-high 10 rebounds for his first collegiate double-double.
 
Mario Lacy, Jr., matched Maslow with 12 points and 10 rebounds for his 27^th career double-double, which is his sixth of the season.
 
Prior to last week, MSU Denver hadn't had two players post double-doubles in the same game since 2013, now it's happened twice in the last four games (Lacy and Caleb McGill did double-double duty against UCCS).
 
"Ryan and Mario are the anchors of our defense, and Marzouq (Ibn Abdur-Razaaq) is really starting to come along defensively as well," Ficke said.
 
Abdur-Razaaq made his 21^st consecutive field goal early in the game before finally missing and finished with nine points and six rebounds. Maldonado led MSU Denver with 15 points and four steals.
 
After missing all nine of their first-half 3-point tries, the Roadrunners connected on 6 of 12 from distance in the final 20 minutes while shooting 51.7 percent overall after halftime.
 
"In the second half we did a good job of not checking out too early," Ficke said. "It's easy to come out of halftime and think the game is won and let a team back in it. Only in the last five minutes did we get a little too loose, but even then we still checked back in and finished the job."