Mines Cruises By Western, 99-71, For Eighth Straight Win

2/19/2016 12:00:00 AM

Box Score

Red-hot shooting led Colorado School of Mines past Western State, 99-71, for its eighth straight win on Friday night.

Five Orediggers scored in double figures as Mines (20-6, 15-5 RMAC) set a season-high for scoring while shooting a blistering 60.9 percent overall. Adam Laine poured in 23 points on 9-of-11 shooting, while Gokul Natesan had 20 and Luke Schroepfer 15.

Mines never trailed, hitting the game's first 11 points and never looking back. Laine's jumper 5:07 into the game established a double-digit lead that the Orediggers would not relinquish until an 8-0 Mountaineers run cut the lead to nine with 5:29 left in the half.

The visitors slowly rebuilt their lead, however, and opened the second half on a 14-5 run keyed by back-to-back dunks from Natesan and Joe Dellenbach to lead by 28 at the 12:59 mark. The lead only grew from there, getting as large as 35 when Ben Sonnefeld's three-pointer capped an 8-0 spurt with 8:20 to go. The Orediggers stepped off the gas from there and cruised to a 28-point win, 99-71.

NOTABLES

  • Mines remains tied with MSU Denver for second place in the RMAC standings with two games left to play, but hold any potential tiebreaker over the Roadrunners. The Orediggers end at CSU-Pueblo Saturday night and at home with Colorado Christian next Friday.

  • The RMAC's #1 seed was taken out of play Friday night as Fort Lewis' win clinched them home-court advantage for the playoffs and at least a share of the regular-season championship. Mines is still in the driver's seat for the #2 seed and a home quarterfinal should they win their final two games.

  • The win extended Mines' win streak to eight games, a stretch that began with a 95-71 win over Western back on Jan. 23. In that span, the Orediggers have averaged a whopping 89.9 points per game, and have scored 80 or more in each outing.

  • Mines' 20-win season is the seventh in program history, with five coming since 2010-11 under head coach Pryor Orser.

  • Mines' 60.9 percent shooting was their second 60+ percent shooting night of the season, after they hit 63.6 percent at Chadron on Feb. 6.

  • Luke Schroepfer had a perfect night, going 6-for-6 overall and 3-for-3 from three-point range for 15 points. Over the last three games, he has shot a remarkable 19-for-23 from the floor.

  • Caleb Waitsman (12) and Ben Sonnefeld (10) also hit double digits for Mines, while Joe Dellenbach had nine points.


 NEXT UP
 Mines visits CSU-Pueblo Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. in a game televised live on CET (channel 105/900 on Comcast).



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