Mines vs. Colorado Mesa, Friday, 7 p.m. [TV: CET] [Live Video] [Live Stats]
Mines vs. Western State, Saturday, 7 p.m. [Live Video] [Live Stats]
 

---

THE MATCH-UPS
Mines, battling for first place in the RMAC, hosts Colorado Mesa and Western State this weekend. Both opponents are 2-7 in RMAC play as they try to get themselves back into the playoff hunt.

READY FOR OUR CLOSE-UP
Friday night's game against Colorado Mesa will be televised live on Comcast Entertainment Television (channel 105 SD/900 HD on Front Range Comcast systems). Note the start time of the game is 7 p.m., a change from the previously-announced 8 p.m. start.

IN THE HUNT
After a wild weekend saw all three of the RMAC's one-loss teams lose, Mines has been vaulted back into the title picture at 7-2 in RMAC play, a half-game back of Fort Lewis at 8-2. Mines is tied for second with Colorado Christian and CSU-Pueblo, a game up on Regis and MSU Denver.

OREDIGGERS BEAT BUZZER, WESTMINSTER
Murphy Gershman's putback buzzerbeater helped Colorado School of Mines escape Westminster with a hard-fought 69-67 win to sweep the season series from the Griffins last Saturday. Luke Schroepfer led all Orediggers with 17 points, with Gokul Natesan scoring 15. Caleb Waitsman, Gershman, and Adam Laine each scored eight, with Gershman grabbing a game-high eight rebounds as well.

RECENT HISTORY
Mines and Colorado Mesa played a classic in Golden during last year's regular season as the Mavs won 89-85 in overtime despite a career-high 38 points from Gokul Natesan. Mines exacted revenge in the RMAC Tournament semifinals, winning 84-73 behind five scorers in double figures including Natesan's 19 and Caleb Waitsman's 16-point, 11-rebound double-double. Mines won both meetings against Western State last year and hold a seven-game win streak over the Mountaineers dating back to 2012-13. Last year, Mines won 99-71 on the road and 95-71 at home; Adam Laine came up big in both games, averaging 22.5 points and 7.5 rebounds in the victories.

ON A ROLL
Mines has won five consecutive games since before the holiday break, and currently stands 12-3 overall and 7-2 in league play. Luke Schroepfer has been Mines' hottest hand during the streak, averaging 18.6 points per game and shooting ridiculous percentages of .604 from the floor, .545 for 3, and .895 at the line. Gokul Natesan has been right there with him averaging 16.4 points and 2.7 assists per game, and he's missed only one free throw (18-for-19) in that span. In fact, free throw shooting as a whole has been a key to Mines' success – they are hitting 80.2 percent of foul shots in the last five games against 74.1 percent for the season.

OFF THE BOARDS
Coming into the weekend, Mines has the best rebounding defense in the league, allowing on 28.9 per game, and they rank second in rebounding margin at +6.8 per game. This is all despite having only one player – Caleb Waitsman – in the top 20 in rebounding individually in the RMAC. Waitsman is pulling down 6.5 boards per game, with a distributed effort behind him of Murphy Gershman (4.9), Ben Clare (4.2), and Adam Laine (3.4). Eight Orediggers are grabbing two or more rebounds per game.

NATESAN IN THE RECORD BOOKS
Gokul Natesan continues to move his way up the Mines record book in his senior season. Natesan moved into 11th on the career scoring list last weekend with 1,655 points, and also moved up to second on the career steals list (208) behind Mike Ziegler (234). Natesan also ranks among the best in assists (325, 4th), three-pointers (236, 4th), and free throws (457, 2nd). Natesan is only the third player in program history – and first since 1996 - to produce 1,500+ points, 300+ assists, and 200+ steals, joining Raul Varela and Mike Ziegler.