GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— He used to hate coming to Brownson Arena.  On Thursday, he loved being here.

First-year Colorado Mesa University and Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference legend men's basketball coach Mike Dunlap and his youthful Mavericks outlasted MSU Denver by an 89-85 margin in double overtime RMAC instant classic.

The win was CMU's fourth straight at home and was done in front of a season-best crowd of 1,262. 

It was also certainly the Mavs' biggest in Dunlap's debut season at CMU and came in Dunlap's first outing against his former program, where he won two national titles and 248 games in nine seasons from 1998-2006.

"It was popping in there tonight and that was great basketball," Dunlap said.

"You know, unfortunately somebody had to lose and I'm very happy that it was Metro State," Dunlap quipped in a post-game interview.

After his success in downtown Denver, Dunlap then moved on to the NCAA Division I and professional coaching ranks in both Australia and the NBA before returning to the RMAC and Division II this season.

"Because of how many jobs I've head in the journey, I put wherever I'm at in a lock box.  These guys have been phenomenal," he said about his new Mavericks squad.

"If you just look at the close games that we've had and they've made it a real enjoyable journey.  That's character.  They like each other.  There's a connection and I think that our crowd can feel that."

The Mavs have now played six one-possession games in their last seven, winning five of those, including two in overtime.

After losing their first four conference games, the Mavericks have now improved to 13-8 overall and to 7-6 in the RMAC with Thursday's win while the conference's third-place Roadrunners, who sit sixth in the South Central Region, fell to 15-6 overall and to 9-4 in the conference.

On Thursday, the Mavricks had five players in double figures, including Ty Allred, who led all scorers with 22 points while logging more than 46 minutes of playing time in a warrior-like effort. 

Christopher Speller added 17 on 6-for-8 shooting while crowd-favorite Yaak Yaak registered his first career double-double with 14 points and a career-high 11 rebounds.  Yaak also had five of CMU's seven blocked shots.

Fellow Australians Will Mortimore and Mason Honeyman also added 12 points apiece while Mortimore grabbed eight rebounds.  He also sunk three of four free throws in the final 15 seconds of the second overtime to ice the victory.

The overall free throw shooting proved to be the difference as the Mavericks finished 13-for-15 from the line, good for an 86.7 percent clip.  The Roadrunners shot just 63.6 percent (14-22) from the line.

The visitors stunned the Mavericks early on, taking a 13-4 lead in the first six minutes of the game, with what proved to be equal to the largest advantage for either team all night.

The Mavs then fought back to tie the game at 23 and took a 25-24 lead on a Yaak jumper with 3:47 to go.

The Roadrunners then went on an 8-3 run to build back a 33-28 lead before going into the halftime intermission up 33-32.

The second half then featured nine lead changes and six ties.

One of those ties was at 50-50 before the Roadrunners scored five points on a single trip down the floor thanks to an offensive rebound on a missed free throw as part of a 9-0 Roadrunner run that put the visitors up by seven (57-50).

The Mavericks then answered back with a 13-6 run of their own, tying the game at 63 on a Honeyman 3-pointer.

MSU Denver's Caleb McGill, who scored 21 points to lead his squad, and Honeyman then answered each other with 3-pointers as the game was tied at 66 heading into the game's final minute.

McGill then hit one of two free throws to put the Roadrunners up 67-66 with 38 seconds left in regulation before Honeyman gave the Mavs a 68-67 lead after canning a floating jumper with 23.3 seconds to go.

McGill then drew a foul with three seconds to go but missed the ensuing first free throw.  He did recover to hit the second to force overtime.

The Roadrunners then had the lead for most of the first overtime and led it, 76-72 before Speller responded with four straight points on back-to-back possessions separated by a Yaak block.

The Roadrunners then went ahead 78-76 with 40.4 seconds to go before CMU guard Harvey White drove to the hoop for a game-tying layup with 19.9 seconds left.

The visitors then were not able to get off a shot as the game moved on to the second overtime.

The Mavs then controlled the second extra period, building an 84-78 lead, their largest of the night over the first three minutes before holding on for the win thanks to an Allred layup and Mortimore's game-clinching free throws.

The journey will not get any easier for the Mavs, who will remain at home for another key game on Saturday afternoon at 3 o'clock against second-place Regis (13-8, 11-2 RMAC), who won at Westminster on Thursday night to claim an eighth straight victory.