GOLDEN, Colo. – Taking the court at Lockridge Arena for the first time in the new season, the #13/13 Colorado School of Mines men's basketball team ran their winning streak to five games in an 82-58 win over Kansas Wesleyan Friday evening.
 
Golden native Adam Thistlewood led all scorers in his home debut with 23 points, while Brendan Sullivan and Riley Schroeder both finished in double figures for the Orediggers (5-0) while holding the Coyotes (6-0), who were playing the contest as an exhibition, to under 40% shooting in the game to record the 400th career win for head coach Pryor Orser in his 22nd season at Mines.
 
Kansas Wesleyan scored first and led 8-3 at the 16:54 mark after a Jun Murdock three, but a quick 10-0 run from Mines courtesy of Sullivan, Thistlewood and Trent Dykema swung things back around in favor of the home team at 13-8 with 14:27 in the half.
 
The Orediggers continued to slowly extend their advantage over the following minutes, pushing the lead to 10 with 10:18 on the clock on a jumper from Kai Barr to make it 21-11. Back-to-back treys from Schroeder and Thistlewood gave Mines their biggest lead of the half at 30-16 with just over eight minutes remaining.
 
The double-figure lead held up for the Orediggers for most of the remaining balance of the half, as KWU was able to trim the gap to eight on a Murdock jumper at 3:45 to play before Thistlewood answered on the next possession to push the lead back to 11 at 37-26. A pull-up three from deep right before the buzzer from Micah Lovett sent the teams to the break with Mines ahead 40-39.
 
As play resumed, the Coyotes cut the lead to seven on a second-chance dunk by Cory Kaplan to close within seven, but Sullivan and Dykema quickly made it a 12-point game again following a layup off a steal and a three to make it 45-33.  
 
KWU was able to trim the gap to six at 50-44 following a transition jumper from Thurbil Bile at the 13:46 mark, but a driving layup from Schroder and two Sam Beskind free throws pushed the lead back to double figures for good with 11 minutes to play.
 
As the half played out, Mines continued to stretch the lead, as back-to-back treys from Sullivan just before the four-minute mark made it a 19-point advantage at 68-49 before going on to close out the night on a 9-0 run on treys from Taylor Spurlock, Schroeder and Cade Mankle to secure the 82-58 victory and career win number 400 for Orser as a head coach.
 
NOTABLES
-Thistlewood again missed out on a double-double by one rebound, finished with nine and 23 points on 8-13 shooting including 3-6 from three
-Sullivan was back in double figures with 19 points on 6-10 shooting that included 3-5 from deep with three assists
-Schroeder posted his second straight double-figure outing, ending with 12 points and five rebounds
-Beskind didn't quite get to double figures, but still packed the stat sheet, finishing with nine points, seven boards, five steals, four assists and two blocks
-Eight different players scored for Mines, who shot 50% from the field in the game and 48% from three-point land while outrebounding Kansas Wesleyan 43-26

LOOKING AHEAD
The Orediggers close out their non-conference slate with a Saturday matchup against Westcliff at 6 p.m. at Lockridge Arena.
 
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.