GUNNISON, Colo. - A late surge by Western State gave them a 79-76 win over #22 Colorado School of Mines in a disjointed, back-and-forth game Saturday night.

Adam Laine had a 31-point, 12-rebound double-double off the bench, but the Mountaineers (7-10, 5-6 RMAC) drained nine three-pointers and went 26-of-31 at the line to negate Mines' dominance in the paint.

Both teams shot right around 43 percent overall, but the difference was beyond the arc, as WSCU hit 9-of-22 three-point tries to Mines' 4-of-13. Ben Beauchamp led the Mountaineers with 22 points.

Mines had 54 points off the bench as Laine had his 31 and Duke Douglas added 13. The game featured 12 ties and 19 lead changes.

The Orediggers led by as much as 10 early in th esecond half as Laine scored seven straight points to make it 44-34 at the 17:36 mark, but an 8-0 run by WSCU later in the half cut the lead to a basket, and they eventually took the lead on Brady Subart's layup with 6:07 to go. The lead changed hands seven times after that, and Mines appeared to put some space in th egame with Mason Baker's three-pointer with 3:15 left to lead 70-66.

Subart's three-point play and a pair of Beauchamp foul shots answered back immediately, however, and Laine buckets wrapped around Jake Wilcox's three left the game tied with 44 seconds left. Subart then hit a dagger three with 17 seconds remaining, and after a quick Ben Sonnefeld basket cut the Western lead to 77-76, Mines had to foul, and Subart made both free throws at the other end with eight seconds to go. Mines' final look at a tie came up short just before the buzzer.

NEXT UP
Mines heads to New Mexico Highlands on Thursday.