RMAC Tournament Quarterfinal
#18 Mines vs. Adams State, Tuesday, 7 p.m. [Live Video] [Live Stats]
 

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THE CHAMPS ARE HERE
Colorado School of Mines sealed the outright RMAC regular-season championship over the weekend with a 19-3 conference record. Mines won a share on Friday night with a 79-63 win over UCCS, then took the outright championship Saturday with an 89-57 blowout win over MSU Denver. It marks the fifth regular-season championship in program history, four of them coming under head coach Pryor Orser.

THE RMAC TOURNAMENT
Mines is the top seed in this year's RMAC Tournament, hosting eighth-seeded Adams State in the quarterfinals. Should Mines win that game, it would host the semifinals and final this weekend. If Mines wins it would meet the Regis/MSU Denver winner in the semis. The full bracket:

Quarterfinals - Tuesday
[1] Mines vs. [8] Adams State, 7 p.m.
[4] Regis vs. [5] MSU Denver, 7 p.m.
[3] CSU-Pueblo vs. [6] Colorado Christian, 7:30 p.m.
[2] Fort Lewis vs. [7] UCCS, 7 p.m.

Semifinals - Friday at highest remaining seed
Semifinal #1 - 5 p.m.
Semifinal #2 - 7:30 p.m.

Final - Saturday
Final - 7 p.m.

RMAC TOURNAMENT TICKETS
Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for childrens, students, seniors, and active military. Note that no passes are accepted for postseason play.

MINES IN THE TOURNAMENT
The Orediggers are trying to win their second RMAC Tournament in program history, with their only previous win coming in 2012. Last year, Mines made a run to the final at Fort Lewis, but lost a dramatic game 73-72 after beating Adams State and Colorado Mesa in the earlier rounds.

IN THE POLLS
Mines was #18 in both the NABC coaches and D2SIDA Media polls last week. More importantly, their NCAA Tournament future seems secure no matter what happens in the RMAC Tournament as the Orediggers remained #2 in the NCAA South Central regional rankings, with the top eight being selected for the NCAA Tournament.

SO WE MEET AGAIN
This will be the third consecutive season Adams State has traveled to Mines for the RMAC Tournament quarterfinals. The Grizzlies upset the Orediggers 94-91 back in 2015, but Mines handled their business 78-69 behind 19 points from Adam Laine and 18 by Gokul Natesan.

WAITSMAN SCORES 1,000TH
Senior Caleb Waitsman scored his 1,000th career point against UCCS, becoming the second active Oredigger to reach the mark along with Gokul Natesan. Waitsman now has 1,014 career points; he also ranks eighth all-time with 657 career rebounds, three away from moving into seventh place.

NATESAN MAKING HISTORY
As he enters the final stretch of his career, senior Gokul Natesan has put up historic numbers. With 1,885 career points, he ranks fifth all-time at Mines and is bidding to be the fifth player in program history to reach 1,900. He is also on the cusp of the Mines career steals record with 230; that puts him four behind tying Mike Ziegler's total of 234 set from 1986-90.

EARLIER THIS SEASON
Mines and Adams State met only once this season, a 75-66 win by Mines back on Jan. 28 in Golden. Murphy Gershman notched a 14-point, 11-rebound double-double and Gokul Natesan scored 24 points as Mines used a 15-2 run to erase a four-point Grizzly lead with less than five minutes to go. Brandon Sly led ASU with 20 points.