Mines at Colorado Christian, Tuesday, 7 p.m. [Live Video] [Live Stats]
Mines vs. Adams State, Saturday, 7 p.m. [Live Video] [Live Stats]
 

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THE WEEK AHEAD
Mines will visit Colorado Christian Tuesday night in a meeting of crosstown rivals going different ways. Mines has been the RMAC's hottest team since the New Year with nine wins in a row to take over sole possession of second in the league, while CCU has lost four of their last five after a 7-1 start to RMAC play to stand at 8-5 in fifth. Mines will then host a surging Adams State team that has won five straight but is 2-5 away from Alamosa.

IN THE HUNT
Mines remains a half-game back of Fort Lewis for first after beating co-second-place CSU-Pueblo decisively on Saturday. Fort Lewis has played one more game than Mines so far as is 12-2 to the Orediggers' 11-2; the pair have not yet played, with Mines visiting Durango on Feb. 17 for a nationally-televised game.

CLARE BREAKS OUT
The season's breakout player has arguably been center Ben Clare, who is coming off a career week in the post. The redshirt sophomore notched his first career double-double last Tuesday against a large New Mexico Highlands line-up, pulling down a career-high 11 boards to go with 11 points and two blocks. Then at CSU-Pueblo on Saturday, he led all scorers with a career-high 17 points, making his first eight buckets to shoot 8-for-9 with seven rebounds. This season, Clare is shooting .667 (second in the RMAC) and .737 at the line.

NATESAN ENTERS ALL-TIME SCORING TOP 10
With a combined 31 points last week, senior Gokul Natesan cracked the career top-10 in scoring at Mines with 1,726 points, which currently puts him eighth. He could move up another notch to surpass Jay Godley (1,734 from 1966-70) this week. 

LEADING THE WAY
Mines is all over the RMAC statistical leaderboard this week. Natesan ranks third in the league in scoring (18.9 ppg) with Luke Schroepfer 15th (14.4), while Natesan leads the RMAC in steals (2.0 spg). Schroepfer is fourth in three-point shooting (3.1 per game). As a team, Mines owns the RMAC's best scoring defense by more than two points per game (64.1) and the second-best scoring margin at +14.9. They also give up the fewest rebounds per game (29.1) while possessing the second-best rebounding margin (+6.9 per game), second-best turnover margin (+3.1 per game), and best assist-to-turnover ratio (1.6). 

LAST YEAR
Mines swept the CCU series last year in two memorable games. They won 79-73 in Lakewood behind six scorers in double figures, including Caleb Waitsman's double-double, then outlasted CCU 106-103 in a wild double-overtime game to end the regular season. That contest featured CCU buzzerbeaters at the end of regulation and the first overtime, but Gokul Natesan's 34 points and a 24-point Waitsman effort carried them. Mines met Adams State three times and won all three, 83-61 on the road and 85-71 at home before a 78-69 RMAC Tournament quarterfinal victory in Golden. Adam Laine came off the bench in the third game to score 19 with eight boards.