DENVER, Colo. – Entering the evening winners of their last seven games, the newly-minted #5/9 Colorado School of Mines men's basketball team overcame a cold start Tuesday night at the Auraria Event Center, heating up over the course of 40 minutes and going on to sweep the season series with MSU Denver with a 70-55 win.
 
Ben Boone shined off the bench once again and picked up right where he left off Saturday night shooting, leading the Orediggers (17-1, 11-1) with 19 while Adam Thistlewood recorded his second straight double-double as the Mines defense stepped up in the second half with one of their best efforts of the season, holding the Roadrunners (6-11, 3-8) to just 18% from the floor over the final 20 minutes and finishing the night with 14 steals to notch their eighth win in a row.
 
MSU Denver put the first points of the night on the board before Sam Beskind got the Orediggers off an running with a wing three more than two minutes into the action as both sides struggled to find any kind of rhythm on offense in the opening moments. A layup by Chandler Bevans put MSUD back ahead before Thistlewood went 1-2 at the stripe to tie things back up at 4-4 at 17:02.
 
Nearly two minutes of game action elapsed before the next points went on the board, with the Roadrunners sinking a pair from the line before Boone answered in kind with a pair as it remained even at 6-6 before MSU Denver went on a 6-0 run over the next two minutes to regain the lead. Kai Barr cut the deficit two by scoring the next four points for Mines before the under-12 media timeout to make it 12-10. Two more free throws by the home team were followed by a Boone three that made it a one-point game as the Orediggers looked to regain the advantage.
 
A layup and a dunk in succession by Adam Thistlewood following a Quave Propst-Allison jumper flipped the score in short order as Mines moved back out front 17-16 before buckets from Riley Schroeder and Beskind stretch the lead to five with 8:15 to play. A trey from Brendan Sullivan after two more Roadrunner free throws made it a six-point lead but MSUD was able to battle back and tie things at 28 with 4:34 to play on a Jaden Kennis layup. The teams traded baskets over the final 3:58 with Mines maintaining the edge to lead 36-34 after 20 minutes.
 
As play resumed in the second half, Barr scored four straight points for Mines to push the lead up to six at 40-34 in the first two minutes. Boone pushed the advantage up to nine with 12:59 to play on a transition jumper to make it 47-38 as the margin held right around there for nearly two minutes until the Roadrunners strung together an 8-0 run to close to within one at 51-50 following a pair of free throws from Propst-Allison with 8:03 to play.
 
Despite the momentum swinging back in favor of MSUD, Mines weathered the storm and went on a run of their own to restore the lead, this one of the 13-0 variety over the next 5:05, capped by back-to-back-to-back treys from Boone and Sullivan, as the Roadrunners went ice cold on offense, missing their next three field goal attempts and turning the ball over four times in that stretch.
 
Propst-Allison broke up the run with a three to make it 64-53 but that ended up being the final basket of the night for MSUD, as despite two late free throws by Caleb McGill, a Thistlewood free throws and two more makes from Boone closed out a closely contested game with a final score of 70-55.
 
 
NOTABLES
-Boone and Thistlewood once again led the way and finished with almost identical numbers from Saturday, with the former coming off the bench to score 19 points on 4-5 shooting and the latter recording another double-double of 15 points and 10 boards
-Barr added 10 points and four rebounds while going 3-7 from the floor and overcoming early foul trouble
-Beskind and Sullivan each went for nine points and combined for nine boards and four assists, with the former also accounting for five of the Orediggers' 14 steals in the game
-Mines improves to 18-18 overall on the road against the Roadrunners and has now won the last nine meetings
-After going 129 games to begin his collegiate career without a double-double, Thistlewood now has two in the last two games
-The 14 steals by the Orediggers are the most in a game this season, surpassing the previous high of 10 which happened three times already this season, most recently against Western Colorado on Dec. 18

LOOKING AHEAD
Mines concludes their four-game road trip Saturday when they head to Gunnison for the second of two meetings this season with Western Colorado at 7 p.m.
 
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.