Christian Mackey (Kirtland, New Mexico) and Joe Rosga (St. Paul, Minnesota) led Denver men’s basketball team in a thrilling 53-51 win over the IUPUI Jaguars on Feb. 4.

After a sloppy and slow start, Denver trailed IUPUI 30-21 at halftime. With nine turnovers, shooting 35 percent (7-of-20) of attempts and missing all seven shots from behind the arc, Denver took advantage of the much needed intermission.

“[Coach Scott] told us to keep fighting and keep competing. As long as we did that he said the outcome would take care of itself. That’s what we did. We fought and brought energy to get the result we wanted,” said Rosga of head coach Joe Scott’s halftime talk with the team.

Rosga tallied a game-high 16 points. Off the bench, Mackey recorded a career-high 11 points, four rebounds and a career-best four blocks.

The Pios were down the majority of the match, up until five minutes into the second half when the energized Crimson and Gold generated a 23-8 run to tie the Jaguars at 48. Of the 23 points from Denver, Mackey and Rosga combined for 22 of them.

With 1:04 on the clock, freshman guard Thomas Neff (Arvada, Colorado) banked a crucial three-pointer to advance the Pios to a 51-48 lead.

Strong defensive asset for the Pios, Jake Pemberton, logged a career-tying six rebounds during the game.

“We found the right combination of guys. Mackey, Byrd, Pemberton, Rosga and Neff was a great combination out there. Douglas also brought some really good energy and I think that’s what did it for us. They’re hard work and competitive play at practice is transferring into games, which is what we [the coaching staff] have been wanting to see,” said Scott.

The win marked Coach Scott’s 100th victory at Magness Arena.

“It [the win] says we’re getting better. It says we’re growing. It says the things we’ve been working on have got this team doing the right things. We got out a really tough win tonight,” said Scott.

The Pios traveled to face the University of Nebraska Omaha on Feb. 6 in a rematch. The team secured a huge 75-72 victory over the Mavericks.

Denver previously lost 69-55 over the third highest scoring team in the nation, but held off the second-half rally from the Mavericks in their second meeting.

Mackey’s momentum carried over from the game against IUPUI. The sophomore recorded a career-best 14 points and nine rebounds to lead the Pios to the win.

Denver returns to Magness Arena on Feb. 11 against Western Illinois University. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.