In their final game of the 2018 calendar year, the MSU Denver men’s basketball team shocked Northwest Nazarene University 96-91.

Every season, MSU Denver is allotted four non-conference games in their 26-game schedule, with the other 22 being mandatory Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference showdowns.

Typically those out-of-conference games would be the first four of the season, scheduled back-to-back on opening weekend and the same the next.

When finalizing MSU Denver’s 2018-19 schedule, however, head coach Michael Bahl wanted to have their final non-conference battle interject an 11-day break in his team’s RMAC and practice schedule.

The inclusion of Nazarene on Dec. 19 was head-scratching to some, but as clear as day to Bahl.

“We don’t have the kind of team to be taking 11 days off,” Bahl said. “Looking back now, I’m so glad we did it. We really did need this game against a quality opponent.”

The Nighthawks are, arguably, the third “great” team MSU Denver has faced this season.

When the Roadrunners squared off against Texas A&M-Commerce, the best team in the Southwest Region, the matchup had an aura that David must have felt when facing Goliath. David won.

When Colorado Mesa University rolled into town on Dec. 15, the Roadrunners were out for affirmation that the Commerce win was no fluke.

Tonight, after three straight wins, the Roadrunners came out to affirm the masses that they were no fluke. You see, the Nighthawks have been one of Division II’s Cinderella teams a month into the season. Only 13-13 a season ago, the Nighthawks were riding high at 6-1 and two games removed from an upset of Division I’s the University of Idaho.

MSU Denver, 5-4, has defeated their toughest opponent yet.

“We’re not rebuilding this year,” said junior Druce Asah. “People are saying that we’re rebuilding; that’s not what we’re doing. We’re trying to make something happen this year.”

If the Roadrunners set out to call attention to themselves Wednesday night, the message was heard loud and clear.

The offense played their best game of the season. The text that says “96” under points scored would be evidence enough, but read between the lines. MSU Denver had four players score in double digits, with three of those guys reaching 20-plus.

Asah dropped 20, Garrett Carter scored 21, and forward Kendall McIntosh bested both with 22. Scoring was difficult to come by to start the season, but the Roadrunners have steadily improved, something that bodes well for a developing team.

MSU Denver shot a season-best 54.2 percent from the court, 45.5 percent from three-point and a relatively enormous 73.9 percent from the free-throw stripe.

Carter and Asah are sharpshooting guards. They throw up a ton of shots with the expectation that 40 percent or so will hit.

McIntosh, a lanky big man, maybe not so much. He doesn’t take jumpers. He bulls himself into the throes of the defense so he can sink a layup, and maybe get fouled in the process for a free throw. For the seventh time this season, McIntosh scored 10-plus points. His 22 points Wednesday set a season-high.

McIntosh made the first of two dunks in the waning minutes of the game to put the Roadrunners up 83-73. There was no better person, or fashion, to end the Roadrunners’ big night with an exclamation point.

Frantically trying to get a shot off of an aggressive Nighthawks defense, guard Enrique Cortez-Zotes rifled the ball to McIntosh. The forward stood in front of the basket unopposed after a pair of defenders tangled each other up and fell to the floor. With nothin’ but money in front of him, McIntosh set himself, and then used his legs to spring his 6-foot-8-inch frame to the net for a two-handed jam. McIntosh hung from the rim for a moment, legs positioned like a sumo wrestler as if to tell the defenders that this court belonged to MSU Denver and they were trespassing.

“There’s going to be some nights where we shoot lights out. That’s one of the strengths of this team, is shooting. We’re going to have one of those nights where we can’t miss, and that’s when we’ll hit the peak,” McIntosh said. “We can enjoy break, get a little rest, but when we get back, it’s time to get locked in.”

The Roadrunners sent the high-flying Nighthawks packing. They ruffled their feathers and left a team with one of the best scoring trios in the country unfulfilled.

But after the massive fall from grace MSU Denver has faced, it is still difficult to take them seriously. On one side of the coin, they have won four in a row and defeated some seriously good schools. Flip the coin, though, and you see a team that is 2-2 in the conference and had a putrid 74-57 loss to Regis University.

But the Roadrunners showed tonight that after weeks of incessant belief from Bahl, the offense and the team are indeed improving.