#14/17 Mines vs. Adams State, Tuesday, 8 p.m. [Live Stats] [Live Video]
RMAC Men's Basketball Tournament Quarterfinals
 

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THE RMAC TOURNAMENT
Top-seeded Colorado School of Mines begins postseason play Tuesday as they host eighth-seeded Adams State in the RMAC Tournament quarterfinals at 8 p.m. The Orediggers are looking to advance and host the semifinals and final of the tournament this weekend; the semis take place Friday and the final Saturday.

TICKET INFORMATION
Tickets for Tuesday's quarterfinal will be available at Lockridge Arena with gates opening at 5 p.m. Ticket prices are $10 for adults, $5 for seniors and visiting students, and free for Mines students courtesy of Student Life. No passes are accepted for postseason play with the exception of the RMAC pass.

THE CHAMPS ARE HERE
Colorado School of Mines won the outright RMAC regular-season championship and finished league play with a 21-1 record (24-4 overall), which is a program record for most conference wins in a season. It is their fifth regular-season championship under Pryor Orser.

MINES IN THE RMAC TOURNAMENT
Mines has won the RMAC Tournament twice in its history, in 2012 and 2017. The Orediggers have advanced out of the quarterfinals every year since 2015-16. Oddly enough, this will be the fourth time in the last five seasons that Mines and Adams State have met in the quarterfinals; the Orediggers have won three of those four meetings. The Mines/Adams State winner will play the winner of Colorado Mesa/Black Hills State.

IN THE RANKINGS
Mines remained third in the second edition of the NCAA South Central regional rankings this week, trailing St. Edward's and West Texas A&M. Texas A&M-Commerce, Angelo State, Dallas Baptist, Lubbock Christian, and Dixie State rounded out the top eight. The regional rankings help select the field for the NCAA Championship following the completion of conference tournaments. In the national polls, Mines dropped to #14 in the NABC (from #11) and #17 in the D2SIDA (#14) polls.

LAST TIME OUT
Mason Baker's career-high 32 points, including the game-winning free throw with 3.0 seconds remaining, helped Mines survive UCCS in an 81-80 win on Friday. Baker was simply superb, hitting 9-of-14 shots and going 11-for-13 from the line to set his new career high. On Senior Night, Luke Golter went for nine points and six rebounds, Ben Sonnefeld tied his career high with nine assists, and Ben Clare scored 13 to go with five rebounds. With the last shot to tie or win the game in the closing seconds, UCCS instead turned the ball over as Baker drew a charge, and after Clare was intentionally fouled, he made one of two to give Mines an 80-77 lead. Blend Avdili hit a game-tying three-pointer at the other end, however, to again knot the game at 80-80 with 3.0 seconds left; needing to hold Mines without a last shot, UCCS instead committed a foul before the inbound occurred, sending Baker to the line. The redshirt sophomore calmly swished the first shot for the lead, then smartly bounced the second off the front of the rim to start the clock and deny UCCS a look at the final shot.

BAKER GARNERS RMAC WEEKLY AWARD
Mason Baker was named the RMAC Offensive Player of the Week on Monday after a career game in Mines' win over UCCS. Baker drained a career-high 32 points against UCCS going 9-of-14 from the floor, 3-of-5 for three, and 11-of-13 at the line, adding two assists, four rebounds, and a steal. He had 18 points in the second half alone, including the game-winning free-throw with 3.0 seconds left moments after drawing a crucial charge at the other end of the floor; he intentionally missed his second free throw opportunity to deny UCCS a game-winning shot opportunity.

SONNEFELD NAMED ACADEMIC ALL-DISTRICT
Ben Sonnefeld was named to the Google Cloud/CoSIDA Academic All-District team for the second consecutive season last week. Now a graduate student, Sonnefeld holds a 3.73 cumulative GPA having earned his bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering last December, and he is now pursuing his master's degree in engineering and technology management. This season he is having a career year with 14.2 points, 4.4 assists, and 4.2 rebounds per game.

STATISTICAL CHAMPS
With the end of the regular season, Mines picked up a number of RMAC statistical championships both as a team and individually. Ben Clare finished as the conference's field goal percentage player at .585, while Ben Sonnefeld led the RMAC in assists (126 / 4.5 apg) with Michael Glen leading the league in blocks (39 / 1.4 bpg). As a team, Mines topped the RMAC in three-point shooting (.403), free-throw shooting (.774), rebounding margin (+7.1), blocks (131 / 4.68 bpg) and assist to turnover ratio (1.43).

ON THE LINE
Mines has been especially outstanding at the free throw line this season, leading the RMAC at .774 and ranking among the national leaders in free throws made (498, 12th) and percentage (25th). Since Mines set the RMAC single-game record going 24-for-24 at the line earlier this season against Fort Lewis, the Orediggers have shot .800 or better from the stripe in nine of 13 games; in that 13-game span, Mines is shooting .809 at the line and is getting there an average of 23.8 times per game. Mason Baker finished second in the RMAC in the regular season shooting .878 at the line to lead the Orediggers.

DURING THE REGULAR SEASON
Mines won the regular-season meeting with Adams State back on Jan. 11, winning 84-70 in Alamosa behind a huge second-half turnaround. Ben Sonnefeld scored his 1,000th point in the game while Mason Baker had 21 points to lead Mines, who put all five starters in double figures. Trailing 42-35 at halftime, Mines outshot the Grizzlies .615 to .269 in the second half to outscore the home team 49-28 and win.

SCOUTING ADAMS STATE
The Grizzlies finished the regular season 11-16 overall and 11-11 in RMAC play to earn the eighth and final spot in the RMAC Tournament field. They clinched their spot thanks to a 90-79 win at Fort Lewis on Friday. ASU ranks fifth in the RMAC in scoring at 80.0 points per game, but give up 81.3 points per game. John Dewey is the Grizzlies' top scorer at 20.9 points per game with Davere Creighton second at 14.9 and Shemar Johnson adding 13.2 per night.

MINES NEWS AND NOTES
Mines' RMAC title is their 10th regular-season crown all-time, and fifth this decade under head coach Pryor Orser (2011, 2012, 2015, 2017, 2019) … Only Northern Colorado (11) has won more; Mines is now tied with Colorado Mesa for the most among active members … The Orediggers are 13-0 at home and have won 16 straight dating back to last season … Mines' 21 RMAC wins this season bested the 2011-12 team's 20-2 record … Mines' 22-game win streak earlier this season also surpassed that team's program record of 17 in a row … The Mines senior class won their 100th game together with the UCCS victory.
 

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2019 RMAC TOURNAMENT BRACKET
Quarterfinals - Tuesday, March 5
[8] Adams State at [1] Colorado School of Mines, 8 p.m.
[5] Colorado Mesa at [4] Black Hills State, 6 p.m.
[6] UCCS at [3] Regis, 6 p.m.
[7] New Mexico Highlands at [2] Dixie State, 7 p.m.
 
Semifinals - Friday, March 8 (at highest remaining seed)
ASU/CSM vs. CMU/BHSU, TBA
UCCS/RU vs. NMHU/DSU, TBA
 
Final - Saturday, March 9
Semifinal Winner #1 vs. Semifinal Winner #2, TBA