It is hard to believe but Denver men’s basketball (14-15, 7-7) season entered its final two home conference games, starting Thursday night with South Dakota. In a game loaded with fouls, Denver needed to shoot lights out – and they did. Denver shot 47% from the field, 9 of 17 from downtown, and 23 of 25 from the charity stripe to drop the Coyotes. Carson Johnson was lethal down the stretch, finishing with 32 points and 3 assists.

Opening the contest, a Jeremiah Burke counter-strike evened the game, 3-3, early. After the teams traded buckets, a Carson Johnson splash leveled the score 8-8 until the five minute mark. Burke gave DU its first lead from distance, 11-10. Didier Maleng buried two soft makes from the paint, 17-12. Denver clung to a 3-point margin at the officials’ timeout. A USD push was stopped by a Zane Nelson bunny but the Coyotes cut into DU’s lead, 23-22, with 7:55 left in the first half. The Pioneers went on a run. A Carson Johnson fall away settled in the net followed by a Zane Nelson lay-in in traffic, 32-24, with 5 minutes remaining. Coming out of timeout, Carson Johnson delivered a floater, 37-29 with three minutes remaining. Denver could never scratch the scoresheet for the final three minutes. Denver’s big men started to collect fouls – Maleng with 3, Gabe Oldham with 2 and Logan Kinsey with 2. In the bonus, USD pulled back to 3 points with under a minute remaining and DU’s score remained frozen, 37-34, DU

USD worked the pill inside and USD big man Cameron Fens got a lay-in followed by a Jordan Crawford layup which gave the Yotes the lead 38-37. The teams traded points until Kinsey fouled, his third, and Crawford sunk the and-one, 43-41 USD. The teams traded points over the first five minutes of the half, capped by a Johnson lay-in and one, 47-46, DU. Oldham picked up his third foul at 13:20. USD started driving to the hoop, exploiting their size advantage, especially their 7-footer Fens. At 11:00, Carson Johnson drove to the top of the key and launched a three point make-and-one to stretch the lead to 61-51. Next time down the court, USD was fouled and entered the penalty at 10:00. Logan Kinsey picked up his 4th personal foul at 8:30. Oldham picked up his fourth foul, double-bonus, 73-67, DU at 5:45. DU got the ball back and Logan Kinsey followed with a twisting bank that kissed the twine, 75-67. Oldham fouled out at 3:55, 75-68. It didn’t phase Johnson who drove to the top of the key and splashed a three, 78-68. Johnson was called on again and countered a Coyote bucket with driving lay-up-and-one, 81-70, with three minutes left. Denver started running clock and USD started fouling. Johnson added the exclamation point with a one-on-one fall-away three from distance, 90-70.

The game was tighter than the final score showed. Ultimately, Denver followed their winning formula – hold opponents in the 70’s and DU is undefeated on the season. It also doesn’t hurt to have Carson Johnson with the ball in his hands in the final five minutes.