GOLDEN – The Colorado School of Mines men's basketball team will open up postseason play on the road Tuesday with a 7:30 p.m. matchup against third-seeded and 17th-ranked Fort Lewis in the first round of the 2013 RMAC Men's Basketball Tournament at Whalen Gymnasium in Durango.
Sixth-seeded Mines (15-11, 12-10 RMAC) enters the matchup having won four of its last five matchups, but fell to Colorado Christian on Saturday in the regular season finale by a score of 84-76.
Mines is led on offense by its big three in juniors Luke Meisch, Trevor Wages and sophomore Brian Muller, who have led or tied for the team lead in scoring and rebounding in every game this season.
Meisch sits second in the conference and leads the team with an average of 17.4 points per game, and enters Tuesdays matchup with the Skyhawks (19-6, 16-6 RMAC) having led Mines in scoring in eight of its last nine games.
The Wichita, Kan., native is also second on the team and fifth in the RMAC with 8.3 rebounds per game.
Wages sits second in the conference and leads the team with 10.0 rebounds per game while also sitting seventh in the conference with 16.2 points per game. He also finished the regular season fourth in the conference in field goal percentage with a mark of 55.0.
Muller follows right after Wages on the conference scoring leaders in eighth with 16.0 points per game. The Billings, Mont., product also leads the team with an average of 2.3 assists per game.
No. 17 Fort Lewis is led offensively and defensively by Alex Herrera, who sits ninth in the conference in scoring with 15.6 points per game and leads the league with 2.9 blocks per game. He also sits fourth in the conference with 8.7 rebounds per game.
Nick Tomsick and Marcus Ayala follow on the scoring list for the Skyhawks with averages of 14.2 and 13.8 points per game, respectively.
The Orediggers fell to the Skyhawks by a 71-69 final in on Jan. 26 in Durango in the only matchup between the two squads this season.
Tuesday's matchup will be the fourth-straight trip to the RMAC Tournament for the Orediggers, who captured the program's first-ever RMAC Shootout Championship last season as the top seed in the tournament.
