Colorado School of Mines at New Mexico Highlands, Friday, 7 p.m. [RMAC Network] [Live Stats]
Colorado School of Mines at CSU-Pueblo, Saturday, 7:30 p.m. [RMAC Network] [Live Stats]
 

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THIS WEEKEND
The stretch run in the RMAC regular season begins as Mines visits New Mexico Highlands and CSU-Pueblo in a critical weekend set. Two games out of first place, the Orediggers face must-win games against a pair of teams that are battling for postseason spots.
 
ON THE RMAC NETWORK
Every Mines home game and all RMAC contests can be seen live and for free on the RMAC Network at minesathletics.com/tv. The RMAC Network can also be found on Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire, and Android TV devices by going to the app store and searching "RMAC".

LAST WEEKEND
Mines picked up two crucial road wins, routing Chadron State 81-47 before beating MSU Denver 73-61. Michael Glen had 19 points and nine rebounds Friday at Chadron to lead four in double figures; at MSU Denver, Kobi Betts drained 19 and Ben Boone was a perfect 6-for-6 on the way to 18 points. Mines held the Roadrunners to six points in the opening 12 minutes to build a lead they would never relinquish.

AROUND THE RMAC
With five games left in the regular season, Black Hills State and Dixie State are tied for the RMAC lead at 14-3. Mines is two games back at 12-5, with UCCS at 11-6 and then Colorado Mesa and South Dakota Mines at 10-7.  Three teams are clustered at 9-8 fighting for the last two playoff spots: New Mexico Highlands, Regis, and Westminster. Mines could clinch an RMAC Tournament berth with two wins this weekend, or a win and a combination of losses by the 9-8 teams.

GLEN APPROACHING 1,000 POINTS
Mason Baker became the latest Oredigger to reach 1,000 career points when he did it against CSU-Pueblo back on Jan. 31, and now Michael Glen is on the verge of joining him. Glen enters this weekend with 951 points putting him 49 short of the milestone.

BLOCK PARTY
Mines enters this weekend second in the RMAC in blocks per game at 4.6, but their rim protection in the last three weeks has been remarkable. Mines has averaged a whopping 7.2blocks per game over the last six outings, including eight each against MSU Denver and Chadron State and a season-high 12 vs. CSU-Pueblo. Michael Glen is the RMAC's leading individual blocker with 1.6 per game, and he's moving up the Mines career list, too: with 127, he has cracked the top seven all-time at Mines with Trevor Wages' 162 the standard.

SCOUTING NEW MEXICO HIGHLANDS [Series: CSM, 43-33]
The Cowboys are 14-8 and 9-8 in the RMAC as they battle for a playoff spot. Since beating Mines 74-72 on Feb. 1, the Cowboys lost 101-94 at South Dakota Mines and 73-66 at Black Hills State. Sammy Barnes-Thompkins is the RMAC's leading scorer with 24.9 points per game and Raquan Mitchell ranked #3 at 23.4 ppg, but beyond that no Cowboy averages more than eight per night. In their meeting two weeks ago, Mines battled back from seven down to tie the game on back-to-back three-pointers from Brendan Sullivan and Michael Glen, but the Cowboys'  Patrik Boloz made a layup with 17 seconds remaining to win. Four Mines starters ended up in double digits led by Sullivan's 16 points, while Titus Reed poured in 15 and Mason Baker 12. Barnes-Thompkins led all scorers with 27 points before being ejected on a flagrant-2 with 3:23 remaining in the game. Mitchell drained 24 points, while no other Cowboy had more than six.

SCOUTING CSU-PUEBLO [Series: CSUP, 36-25]
The Thunderwolves are on the outside looking in at the RMAC Tournament race at 10-13 overall and 8-9 in the RMAC; they've lost four of their last five but their win in that stretch was a 68-67 shocker at RMAC leader Black Hills State last Friday. David Simental leads the team scoring 16.0 points per game while Brandon McGhee, Bryce Sanchious, and Tyson Gilbert all pitch in 10 a night. When they met back on Jan. 31, Mines won 89-61 as Mason Baker scored 22 points on 7-of-8 three-point shooting. Kobi Betts added 13 and Paul O'Leary 12 as the Orediggers splashed 14 three-pointers overall and blocked 12 shots.

LOOKING AHEAD
Mines returns home for the final time in the regular season, hosting Black Hills State and South Dakota Mines on Feb. 21 and 22. The regular season finale will be at UCCS on Feb. 28.