Denver men’s basketball continued their back and forth form last week with a 69-61 win on the road against Kansas City on Thursday and a close 84-82 home loss to Omaha on Saturday.
Kansas City went into Thursday’s game ranked No. 8 in the Summit League with a record of 1-7, with Denver just one spot ahead of them at 2-5. Reflecting their rankings, the game started close, with the two teams even at 32-32 at the end of the first half.
The second half was a similar story, with neither team finding the momentum to break away. Finally, in the last six minutes, Denver found their spark.
Sophomore guard Carson Johnson knocked down a midrange jumper to give Denver the lead, then graduate forward Jeremiah Burke grabbed a rebound and got down the court to drain a clutch three which put Denver up by four with five minutes left.
With 3:30 to go, Johnson hit another jump shot to extend the Denver lead to six. They got the stops they needed and made their free throws to win the game 69-61.
This was one of Denver’s best defensive performances of the season, tying for the lowest point total scored against them so far. They held Kansas City to 38 percent from the field and 20 percent from three.
However, Denver also struggled offensively, shooting just 37 percent from the field and 25 percent from three.
Johnson once again led the game in scoring with a 22 point performance.
The following Saturday, Denver got off to a rough start against Omaha. Just under five minutes into the game they were already down ten points.
But Denver quickly went on a run, making it rain from behind the arch. After making three three-pointers, Denver tied the game at 13-13 with 12:07 to play in the first half.
The Crimson and Gold took this momentum through the rest of the half, going into the locker room with a 35-27 lead.
To start the second half, Denver kept dominating, extending their lead to 13 points with 16:04 left to play after a midrange jumper and two free throws from graduate forward Logan Kinsley.
After this peak, Denver started to slip. Omaha scored ten unanswered points in two minutes to cut Denver’s lead to 46-43 with 14:09 left.
This defensive slip-up would go on to lose them the game. Still with a chance to win in the final minutes, Denver failed to close out a tight game. A missed three by Burke and a made free throw from Omaha’s Paul Djobet sealed the deal.
Djobet led the game with 27 points while Johnson and graduate guard Zane Nelson both scored 19 for Denver.
This was right on par for Johnson, who leads Denver with 19.3 points per game.
These games moved Denver’s overall record to 10-14 and their Summit League record to 3-6, placing them No. 6 in the conference.
Denver will have a tough test on the road next week, traveling to play North Dakota State on Feb. 5 and North Dakota on Feb. 7, the No. 1 and No. 3 teams in the Summit League respectively.
