Mines at Adams State, Friday, 7:30 p.m. [Live Video] [Live Stats]
Mines at Fort Lewis, Saturday, 7:30 p.m. [Live Video] [Live Stats]
 

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THE WEEKEND AHEAD
Colorado School of Mines hits the road for two tough road games, visiting Adams State and Fort Lewis. It will be the only meeting of the year for the cross-divisional rivals as Mines hopes to build on a 7-0 start to its RMAC schedule. Adams State is 4-8 overall but all four wins are in-conference as they are 4-3 in the RMAC; Fort Lewis has gone the other direction, standing at 7-6 overall but 2-5 in the RMAC.

OREDIGGERS ON A ROLL TO START 2019
Mines opened 2019 the same way it ended 2018 – by winning. The Orediggers are currently riding a nine-game win streak with a 7-0 RMAC record, and are currently alone in first place in the conference standings a game ahead of Black Hills State (6-1) with four teams – Colorado Mesa, New Mexico Highlands, Regis, and UCCS – at 5-2.

LAST TIME OUT
Mines collected a pair of wins at home last weekend, beating Westminster 86-58 on Friday before pulling away from Dixie State 93-75 on Saturday. Against Westminster, the Orediggers led wire-to-wire paced by Mason Baker's game-high 16 points with seven rebounds, and Michael Glen had 15 to go with seven boards. Ben Boone added a career-high 13 off the bench as the Mines reserves contributed 30 points, including Joe Miks' 10. Against Dixie State, Mines used a 47-33 second-half to break open a tight game as Baker again led the way with a season-high 23 points, one of six Orediggers in double figures including Austin Means, who had 14 points and 10 rebounds for his second career double-double.

INSIDE THE STREAK
Winning nine games in a row is impressive any way you slice it, but it's been the way that Mines is winning that is turning heads. The Orediggers have been dominating opponents, winning their last nine by an average of 21.2 points; in that span Mines is +8.9 rebounds, +7.5 assists, and +2.7 blocks per game, shooting .539 overall (to opponents' .443) and a white-hot .467 for three (to opponents' .373). Three-point shooting has been especially key – Mines has hit 10.3 three-pointers per game over the last nine wins, and are hitting four more threes per game than opponents.

SONNEFELD NEARS 1,000
Senior point guard Ben Sonnefeld enters the weekend with 986 career points, putting him 14 short of the 1,000-point milestone. Sonnefeld is averaging a career-high 14.4 points this season, and is also averaging career-bests in assists (4.4), rebounds (4.3), and shooting (.453). Sonnefeld is currently fourth at Mines in career assists (376) and is on the verge of cracking the career top-10 in steals (96).

FROM THE OUTSIDE
Mines has been one of the nation's best three-point shooting teams this season, ranking sixth in NCAA Division II in three-point percentage at .435. Joe Miks leads the way hitting .517 (31-of-60) with Ben Sonnefeld at .453 (29-of-64) and Mason Baker at .444 (24-of-54). Even Mines' forwards have gotten in on the fun as Michael Glen is 11-of-25 (.440) and Brendan Sullivan 13-of-31 (.419). During the current nine-game win streak, Mines has canned 10+ three-pointers in a game seven times, including an average of 11.7 per game over their last three outings.

TO BE THE MAN, YOU HAVE TO BEAT THE MAN
Mines is in a stretch of games where they will be facing defending champions in three consecutive weekends of play. The Orediggers beat defending RMAC Tournament champion Regis back on Dec. 16, and then took down last year's PacWest regular-season and tournament champions, Dixie State, this past Saturday. This week it's a trip to the defending RMAC regular-season champions, Fort Lewis.

LAST YEAR
Mines lost at Adams State, 60-54, last season as they were held to 31.5 percent shooting. The Grizzlies made a late 9-0 run to win it; Michael Glen was a bright spot for Mines with 14 points. Mines met Fort Lewis only once last year as well but won at home over the #14-ranked Skyhawks, 79-68. Glen had a career game with 27 points as the Mines defense held FLC to 32 percent shooting in the first half to build a lead.

SCOUTING THE COMPETITION
Adams State is 4-8 overall, but has won two of their last three including a victory last Saturday at MSU Denver, 68-62. John Dewey leads the team at 18.0 points per game while Davere Creighton averages 15.3 points and a team-high 7.5 rebounds a night. Defensively, however, ASU allows opponents to shoot .497 and are -3.0 per game off the glass. Fort Lewis, the defending RMAC regular-season champion, is 7-6 overall and 2-5 in the RMAC with a new-look roster this season. Two names familiar to Mines fans lead the way, however, as Marquel Beasley averages 17.4 points and 6.1 rebounds and Alex Semadeni has 12.5 points and 6.2 rebounds per game. The Skyhawks can score points, averaging 76.2 per game, and three of their six losses have come in overtime – all in RMAC games.

LOOKING AHEAD
The Orediggers return home Jan. 18 to host South Dakota Mines.