DENVER, Colo. – The Colorado School of Mines men's basketball team opened their 2022-23 season Friday night and used an all-around effort to collect an 87-65 win over St.Mary's (TX) at the Regis Field House in the Conference Challenge.
Adam Thistlewood shined in his Mines debut and led all scorers with 18 points and was one of three Orediggers (1-0) to finish the evening in double figures as 12 different players found the scoring column in the game. St. Mary's just couldn't keep pace with the Orediggers on offense, as Mines shot 53.6% in both halves while the Rattlers (0-1) couldn't match their first half pace, shooting 37.9% over the final 20 minutes.
The Orediggers started the night off cold from the field, scoring just once before the first media timeout of the half on a
Kai Barr dunk as St. Mary's took the early 7-2 lead. Coming out of the break,
Cade Mankle converted a four-point play after connecting on a corner three while being fouled and draining the ensuring free throw to make it a one-point game.
That sequence seemed to energize the Orediggers, who battled back to tie things at 11-11 when Thistlewood connected on a step-back triple for the first of three-straight threes for Mines.
Brendan Sullivan answered a Rattlers layup with a three of his own to take the lead before
Reagan Koch got in on the action to make it 17-13.
St. Mary's battled back over the following minutes and regained the lead 19-18 on a Caleb Jordan layup with 9:16 left in the half before Thistlewood put Mines back ahead by one. A 1-2 trip to the charity stripe by Mamady Djikine briefly evened the action at 19 before
Adam Krasovec scored his first points of the season on a sky hook to make it 21-19.
Ben Boone buried his first trey of the season with 7:19 before the half from Mankle to make it a six-point lead for the Orediggers. A Ryan Leonard layup moved St. Mary's back within four at 25-21 but a pair of free throws from Krasovec and a layup from Boone pushed the advantage to eight at 29-21 with just over five to play in the half.
The Rattlers closed to within five with 3:25 and managed to keep within striking distance at 35-29 before Boone, Sullivan and Thistlewood close the half with a 7-2 run to push the lead to double-figures for the first time in the game, heading to the intermission up 43-31.
Coming out of the break,
Riley Schroeder scored six of the Orediggers' first eight points to extend the advantage to 51-36 by the first media stoppage at 15:59. Mines slowly and steadily continued to extend their lead as a trio of layups from
Kai Barr and Boone made it 57-39.
For the remained of the half, the Orediggers were able to maintain a comfortable lead over the Rattlers, leading by no fewer than 16 over the final 9:21. Sullivan pushed the lead to 21 at 65-44 with a layup at the 7:31 mark and Mines had a chance to make it a 30-point lead following another layup by Schroeder with just under five minutes remaining at 76-47, but the Orediggers couldn't quite get there.
The lead remained above 20 for the final four minutes of the night as
Taylor Spurlock put an exclamation point on the night with a dunk in the final 20 seconds as Mines picked up the 87-65 win.
NOTABLES
-Thistlewood led all scorers in his Mines debut, finishing with 18 points on 4-6 shooting, including 3-4 from beyond the arc and finished one rebound shy of a double-double
-Boone finished with 15 points on 7-9 shooting and has now scored in double-figures in three-straight games going back to last season
-Sullivan turned in 12 points on a 5-7 shooting night with six boards
-Schroeder logged eight points, seven boards, two assists and two blocks
-
Sam Beskind scored seven points and went 5-6 from the stripe in his first game as an Orediggers
-12 different players scored in the game for Mines, the most since 11 different Orediggers scored against University of the Southwest on November 27 of last season
-Five different players scored their first points in their careers as Orediggers, as Beskind and Thistlewood were joined by Mankle, Koch and
Caleb Clark
-Mines opens the season with a win for the second time in the last three seasons
LOOKING AHEAD
The Orediggers continue the Conference Challenge Saturday at 4 p.m., once again at the Regis Field House against #16/24 Lubbock Christian.
Fans can keep up with Mines men's basketball on Twitter at @minesmbb. They can also keep up with Colorado School of Mines Athletics all year long on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram using the handle @MinesAthletics.
