2019 RMAC Men's Basketball Tournament
Semifinal #1 - #12/15 Mines vs. Black Hills State, Friday, 6 p.m. [Live Stats] [Live Video]
Semifinal #2 – Regis vs. New Mexico Highlands, Friday, 8 p.m. [Live Stats] [Live Video]
Final – Saturday, 7 p.m. [Live Stats] [Live Video]
all games hosted by Colorado School of Mines at Lockridge Arena
 

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THE RMAC TOURNAMENT
After advancing thanks to a win over Adams State on Tuesday, top-seeded Colorado School of Mines hosts the final weekend of the RMAC Tournament with three games at Lockridge Arena on Friday and Saturday. Mines meets fourth-seeded Black Hills State in Friday's first semifinal at 6 p.m., with third-seeded Regis playing seventh seed New Mexico Highlands at 8 p.m. Saturday's final will be at 7 p.m., with the winner receiving an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. All games will stream live and for free on the RMAC Network.

TICKET INFORMATION
Tickets for all games 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 to at least the semifinal round every year since 2015-16. This will be the first time Mines and Black Hills State have met in the postseason; the Yellow Jackets are making their first-ever semifinals appearance.

IN THE RANKINGS
Mines remained third in the second edition of the NCAA South Central regional rankings this week as West Texas A&M moved ahead of St. Edward's for the top spot. Lubbock Christian, Texas A&M-Commerce, Angelo State, Dallas Baptist, and Newman round 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 moved up to #12 in the NABC (from #14) and #15 in the D2SIDA (#17) polls.

QUARTERFINAL RECAP
Mines put away Adams State late to win their RMAC Tournament quarterfinal, 82-70, on Tuesday. Ben Sonnefeld led the charge for Mines with 20 points while Mason Baker added 16 with four assists. The difference for the Orediggers was from beyond the arc as they sank 11 three-pointers to ASU's two, led by Joe Miks' 4-for-6 game off the bench and three trifectas each from Sonnefeld and Michael Glen. Leading 41-37 at the half, Mines gave up the lead as they and ASU duked it out for much of the half until a 19-5 Mines run around the midway point gave them control of the game and the win.

SONNEFELD, CLARE, ORSER LEAD ALL-RMAC AWARDS
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.

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 swept the regular-season series with two tough wins against Black Hills State, winning 78-67 in Golden and 73-69 in Spearfish. In the first meeting on Jan. 19, Mason Baker and Ben Clare each scored 17 and Michael Glen had a double-double as Mines shook off BHSU in the closing minutes to win, shooting 76.2 percent in the second half. Frasier Malcolm had 19 points in that game. On Feb. 22 in Spearfish, Mines escaped as every player who saw minutes scored at least three points led again by Baker (15) and Clare (14). Makaleb McInnis scored a game-high 26 for Black Hills State.

SCOUTING BLACK HILLS STATE
The Yellow Jackets are 17-10 this season and are the fourth seed in the tournament bracket. They are led by First-Team All-RMAC pick Fraser Malcolm, who averages 16.0 points per game, while second-teamer Tyler Oliver checks in at 11.2 points and a team-high 5.7 rebounds per game. Dez Stoudamire earned honorable mention all-RMAC status averaging 12.4 points per game and ranking fifth in the circuit with 2.5 made three-pointers a night. BHSU's defense ranks fourth in the RMAC (70.6 ppg allowed) and the Yellow Jackets are the RMAC's second-best free-throw shooting team behind Mines at .749.

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
[1] Colorado School of Mines 82, [8] Adams State 70
[4] Black Hills State 73, [5] Colorado Mesa 70
[3] Regis 80, [6] UCCS 78
[7] New Mexico Highlands 86, [2] Dixie State 82
 
Semifinals - Friday, March 8 (at Lockridge Arena)
[1] Colorado School of Mines vs. [4] Black Hills State, 6 p.m.
[3] Regis vs. [7] New Mexico Highlands, 8 p.m.
 
Final - Saturday, March 9 (at Lockridge Arena)
Semifinal Winner #1 vs. Semifinal Winner #2, 7 p.m.