COLORADO SPRINGS - Colorado School of Mines survived UCCS' comeback attempt to start off RMAC play with an 87-82 road win Saturday night.

The Orediggers (4-3, 1-0 RMAC) led by as much as 17 points in the second half, but the Mountain Lions (2-4, 0-1 RMAC) erased it with a huge run to take the game down to the wire.

Five Orediggers scored in double figures led by Ben Sonnefeld's 18, and Mason Baker and Ben Clare each drained 17. Brendan Sullivan had 16 while Austin Means had 10 off the bench. Blend Avdili had 18 for UCCS, and Padiet Wang scored 17.

After a close opening 10 minutes, Mines hit a 7-0 run sparked by a Sullivan three-pointer to take a 33-24 lead, and they kept it at nine points at the break up 47-38. The Orediggers then began the second half on a 10-2 run, and a Clare jumper gave Mines its largest lead of the game, 59-42, with 16:45 left.

UCCS had no quit, though, scoring the next 11 points as part of a larger 14-3 stretch, and a later 9-0 run cut it to a basket with 7:13 remaining. The two went bucket-for-bucket from there with UCCS tying it on Wang's dunk at the 6:34 mark and briefly taking the lead on Brandon Malone's three-pointer two minutes later. Mines, however, hit a key 6-0 stretch with baskets by Clare and Sullivan retaking the lead, 83-79, with 29 seconds to go; Malone canned another three-pointer, but Clare went to the line off the inbounds and made both free throws, and Wang's last-ditch three-point try to tie it went off the side iron as Baker iced it at the line in the closing seconds.

NOTABLES
- Mines shot 55.8 percent for the game including a red-hot 63 percent in the first half; the Orediggers made eight of their first 10 shots in the game. UCCS shot an identical 48.3 percent (14-for-29) in each half. 
- Sullivan was a perfect 7-for-7 from the floor while Clare was 7-of-9 and Sonnefeld 7-of-12.
- The Orediggers had 19 assists, their third straight game with 19 or more. All five starters had two or more assists.
- Baker was 12-of-14 from the line. Mines was 23-of-35 (65.7 percent) overall at the stripe. 
- Means scored 10 points to go with five boards and a career-high five assists despite being limited by foul trouble in the second half.
- Mines held a 35-32 rebounding edge.
- Michael Glen blocked four shots and Sullivan swatted two; the pair co-lead Mines with 11 blocks each this season.
- Glen had a game-high eight rebounds.
- Mines improved to 34-10 all-time against UCCS, winning five of the last six. 

NEXT UP
Mines hits the road to visit Western Colorado and Colorado Mesa next weekend.