All-RMAC Release

COLORADO SPRINGS - Led by Player of the Year Ben Sonnefeld, regular-season champion Colorado School of Mines was well-represented in the year-end all-RMAC teams announced Tuesday.

The Orediggers cleaned up the major awards as Sonnefeld was named Player of the Year, Ben Clare Co-Defensive Player of the Year, and Pryor Orser Coach of the Year. Sonnefeld and Mason Baker were named First-Team All-RMAC while Clare landed a Second Team spot and Michael Glen was named Honorable Mention All-RMAC. 

Sonnefeld is Mines' first Player of the Year since Brett Green in 2011-12, while Clare picked up the Orediggers' first Defensive Player of the Year honor since Gokul Natesan in 2015-16. Orser earns his fifth RMAC Coach of the Year honor, his most recent coming in 2016-17. 

Orser guided Mines to a 24-4 overall record, 21-1 RMAC mark, and the outright RMAC regular-season championship with a dominating season that included a program-record 22-game win streak. The Orediggers have consistently been in the national top 25 since January, peaking at #11, and their 21 conference wins mark the second-most in RMAC history. Under Orser's guidance, Mines ranked second in the RMAC in both scoring and points allowed per game while leading the league in three-point and free-throw shooting, rebounding margin, blocks, and assist-to-turnover ratio. 

Sonnefeld, a preseason all-RMAC selection, was Mines' floor general as they captured the RMAC title, setting career highs in every category at point guard. The redshirt senior averaged 14.0 points per game to rank 15th in the RMAC, and led the conference in assists at 4.5 per game, assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.8, and ranked eighth in minutes at 33.6 per game. Sonnefeld holds career highs in shooting percentage (.482), rebounding (4.4 rpg), assists (4.5 apg), steals (1.0 spg), and scoring (14.0 ppg) this season; his top offensive games include a 25-point, 7-assist effort against Regis and a 26-point game at New Mexico Highlands, and he has had 12 games this season with 20+ combined points and assists. Sonnefeld was a Second-Team All-RMAC pick a year ago.

Clare, a Preseason All-RMAC selection, earns his first postseason all-RMAC honor after returning from a season-ending injury last year to dominate the post in 2018-19. Starting all 28 games, Clare is averaging 12.1 points and 5.9 rebounds per game, he ranks atop the RMAC in field goal percentage (.585) by nearly 40 percentage points. Defensively, Clare is fourth in the league in blocks (1.2 per game). Clare did all that despite playing just 25.1 minutes per game; his per-40 numbers of 19.3 points, 9.4 rebounds, and 1.9 blocks per game would rank among the best in the RMAC.

Baker had a breakout redshirt sophomore season to earn First-Team All-RMAC honors, leading the Orediggers in scoring at 15.5 points per game. Baker added 3.1 assists per game and is the RMAC's second-best foul shooter at .878 (137-for-156); he ranks among the RMAC top 15 in scoring, assists, steals (1.3 spg), and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.3). The RMAC Player of the Week on March 4, Baker has shown his explosive scoring potential several times this year, most notably his career-high 32 against UCCS last week and a 27-point game at Fort Lewis in January. Baker scored in double digits in 26 of 28 games this year.

Glen repeats as Honorable Mention All-RMAC a year after he also earned the RMAC Freshman of the Year honor. The forward didn't disappoint in 2018-19, averaging 11.1 points and a team-high 6.9 rebounds per game while leading the RMAC in blocks with 39 (1.4 bpg). Glen is ninth in the league in rebounding and seventh in defensive rebounding. Glen had three double-doubles this season, and his top scoring output was a career-high 22 on 9-for-9 shooting at Western Colorado.