GOLDEN, Colo. - A second-half push by #11 Colorado School of Mines gave them a 90-79 win over Arkansas-Fort Smith in the NCAA First Round.

Playing on their home court as the South Central region's top seed, the Orediggers (28-4) received a 20-point, six-assist, five-steal game from Gokul Natesan and 17 points and nine boards from Ben Clare to advance.

Mines will play Fort Lewis, a 94-90 overtime winner over Tarleton State, on Sunday at 7:30 p.m. in a rematch of last weekend's RMAC Tournament final. In the other game, third-seeded West Texas A&M will take on seventh-seeded Texas A&M-Kingsville at 5 p.m. WTAM handled Texas A&M-Commerce 97-86 in the day's opener, while TAMUK used a buzzerbeater three to stun second-seeded UT Permian Basin 74-71.

Mines led by only a point at the half, but outscored UAFS 50-40 in the second to win. The Orediggers did it by shooting 5-of-6 from outside the arc after halftime, while also pouncing on inside opportunities as Clare scored 15 of his 17 in the second half. 

The Lions kept it close for most of the game until Mines hit a decisive 14-4 run late in the second half. Leading 63-62 with 11 minutes remaining, an Adam Laine layup and Caleb Waitsman three-point play sparked the run, and Clare later scored five straight points to put Mines up 77-66 with 3:46 remaining. In the meantime, UAFS was only 1-of-7 from the field in that span, and Mines got it done at the line in the closing minutes.

NOTABLES
- Mines put five scorers in double figures with Luke Schroepfer scoring 14, Waitsman 13, and Kaan Korkmaz 11 off the bench.
- Mines assisted on a remarkable 27 of 31 shots, hitting 58.5 percent from the floor overall. The Orediggers shot a red-hot 16-of-24 in the second half.
- Natesan's 20 points took him to 1,971 for his career, moving him up one spot to fourth all-time at Mines. Natesan surpassed Russ Pulling's total of 1,969 set from 1985 to 1989.
- Mines' NCAA win was their first since 2013-14.

QUOTABLES
"Forget about this 8 vs. 1 stuff. You just forget about that in the NCAA Tournament." - coach Pryor Orser on a very tough match-up against the Heartland Conference champions, who were the #8 seed.

"Gokul's defense tonight was extraordinary. He had five steals... He's the best defensive player in the RMAC by far. He held a really good player to 10 points tonight." - Orser on Natesan's defensive contribution

"I felt that for the most part, we did control it... in that second half we controlled it with our tempo and our ball movement." - Gokul Natesan on Mines' methodical second half

"They really came out tonight. It's really uplifting to see all these people come to support you. There's nothing like it." - Ben Clare on an electric home crowd