Denver men’s basketball (1-3) opened at Hamilton Gym Saturday afternoon after a three-game road trip. Head Coach Tim Bergstraser was looking to secure his first home court victory against the visiting Roadrunners. It didn’t happen in a game of ‘what could have been’, DU gave up 50% shooting and only had two players in double digits, Carson Johnson (29) and Jeremiah Burke (23). DU had trouble making stops and became too one-dimensional in the 84-79 loss.
Denver took the early lead, 9-7, in the first five minutes. Both sides were shooting under 40% from the field in the early going, Jeremiah Burke and Carson Johnson led the scoring. The sides battled even until the Roadrunners went on a scoring spree, leading 21-16, at the midway point of the half. A Logan Kinsey bomb kept DU close at 8:00 minutes and somehow a cold shooting DU (33.3%) trailed by only three, 25 -22, with five minutes until the break. The Roadrunners started to pull away in the final minutes, building a 9 point bulge. A Carson Johnson bucket stopped the bleeding but UTSA finished with two charity makes and DU trailed, 37-28, at half. Denver shot 33% from the field and the Roadrunners nearly 50% in the first twenty minutes. Burke had 16 points and Johnson chipped in 9. Logan Kinsey was the only other player to score in the half.
The teams traded buckets and threes early in the second half and Carson Johnson went on an explosive 15-point scoring run, 46-43, with USTA still clinging to a narrow lead. The game was finally knotted at 46 each on a Zane Nelson make from downtown. A pair of long range threes from USTA carried the Roadrunners to a 61-59 lead at the 10-minute mark. Three’s from the Pioneers Julius Rollins and Logan Kinsey pulled the teams level at 63. A UTSA run left Denver trailing 73-68 with five minutes to go. Denver narrowed the gap to two with two minutes to go. USTA responded to each DU push down the stretch. After a pair of free throws, DU trailed by three with 13.9 seconds on the clock and started to foul and USTA built a safe five point margin. Final score 84-79.
Next up is a game against CSU in Fort Collins at 7:00pm on Friday.
Good game. Fun atmosphere. And a good turnout by the students. Like how hard DU played? They have some good players. Lack a big guy but I think they are gonna be a serious force in the conference
It did look like a pretty good crowd and the team gave them some exciting things to cheer about in 2nd half. They’ll continue to get better and will hopefully make those stops as the season goes on.
Johnson had 29 and Burke 23 according to ESPN
We have not seen any solid defense at DU since the Joe Scott era, which ended in 2014. And DU has been mediocre (or worse) every year since. What else is new?
We probably lose anyway, but we made it much to easy for UTSA to control the last few minutes.
This is Dunker. The HEADLINE says it all. I also agree with the above post by Anonymous yesterday. We needed defense in the last ten minutes. My late second half lineup would have been: Josh Lee, Kyle Nelson, Julius, Carson, and Burke. Lee is a stopper. Don’t bury him on the bench. Bergy, go to last year’s video tapes.