DENVER – The No. 9 Colorado School of Mines men's basketball team suffered a 75-70 defeat at the hands of UC-Colorado Springs in the semifinal round of the RMAC Shootout on Friday evening at the Auraria Event Center in Denver. 

Mines (24-4) was out-rebounded by a 22-to-14 margin in the second stanza after dominating the boards in the first half. UCCS (21-7) needed a win to have its season continue and did just that with a 15-to-2 run to close the game that erased an eight-point Oredigger lead with 5:05 to play. 

Mines had chances late, but finished a combined 0-for-6 over the final 1:55 of the contest. 

A rough-and-tumble first half saw the Orediggers post a big 23-to-9 advantage on the boards that paved the way for a 14-to-2 advantage on second-chance points. Senior Luke Meisch notched 13 points and seven rebounds in the first half on the way to his 17-point performance. Despite being out-shot by six percentage points, the Orediggers went into the break up 40-35.

Meisch led the offense with 17 points and tied for the team lead with nine rebounds on 5-of-10 shooting. 

Classmate Trevor Wages added 14 points nine boards and a pair of blocks and assists while shooting 70 percent from the floor. 

Junior Brian Muller added 14 points on 5-of-16 shooting, including a 2-of-7 mark from the perimeter, senior Will Carr was 4-of-6 from the floor on the way to 11 points and six rebounds and Trevor Ritchie closed out five players in double figures with 11 points and a team-high four assists on a 4-of-11 shooting performance. 

Mines will now wait and hope for an at-large bid to the 2014 NCAA Division II South Central Region Tournament next weekend. 

The selection show for the NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Championship will be at 8:30 p.m. (MST) on Sunday, March 9.

NCAA SELECTION SHOW VIDEO LINK

RMAC TOURNAMENT CENTRAL