The shortest player on the court, 6’0″ DeAndre Craig delivered a dramatic victory in the final seconds at Hamilton Gym. DU trailed by three, 68-65, with only two seconds remaining, DeAndre Craig went to the foul line and sunk his first free throw, 66-68. Craig intentionally missed the second free throw and followed up his miss in traffic, laying the ball into the basket and a foul. Craig buried the free throw for the lead, 69-68, and the win. UMKC’s final heave down-court and subsequent shot was wide of the mark.

As is their custom, DU fell behind early, 6-0, but stout defense over the next three minutes and a jumper by DU’s Josh Lee pulled DU even with UMKC, 8-8. At the midway mark, a DeAndre Craig three-point make gave Denver a 13-8 edge which the Pioneer held until two minutes remained when a three-point play by the Roos knotted the score 28-28. With a half-minute remaining, DeAndre Craig hit a three-point shot and Denver went into the break leading 33-30.

Denver built a ten-point lead, 40-30, in the first two minutes of the second half. Denver held the lead until nine minutes remained when the Roos pulled even, 52-52 on three free throws. The teams traded points over the final eight minutes with the largest lead of four by UMKC, 68-65 with 17 seconds remaining. That is when DeAndre Craig set off the fireworks and Hamilton gym.

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Craig, the hero on the night, finished with 16 points and 5 rebounds. Pedro Lopez Sanvicente finished with 12 points and Josh Lee and Kabba Abdulai Fanta finished with 10 points each. DU was solid from the field, shooting 51% and scored 19 points off 13 turnovers.