GUNNISON, Colo. – On the road again Saturday for the fourth and final leg of the last long road trip of the season, the #5/9 Colorado School of Mines men's basketball team got a career night from Kai Barr along with three more double-digit performances to record a win at the highest collegiate gym in the world, sweeping the season series from Western Colorado 79-65.
 
Barr led the Orediggers (18-1, 12-1) with 20 points in 20 minutes on 8-11 shooting while Adam Thistlewood, Adam Krasovec and Cade Mankle combined for 31 points between them as the defense turned in another solid showing, holding the Mountaineers (3-13, 1-11) to just 34% from the floor to go with 42 rebounds, eight steals and seven blocks to secure the win.
 
Mines scored the first points of the night on a turnaround jumper from Barr but the lead exchanged hands twice over the course of the next four possessions, with Western taking their only lead of the game on a layup from Gino Corridori before Thistlewood put the Orediggers back out front for good by converting a traditional three-point play at 17:23 to make it 5-4.
 
Barr scored five of the next seven along with Ben Boone to make it an eight-point game with 15:52 to play but the Mountaineers managed to hang around, closing back to within three after a trey from Kade Juelfs as it remained no more than a two-possession contest for almost the next 11 minutes. Try as they might to extend their lead, Mines couldn't shake WCU in the first half as just about every basket from the Orediggers was answered by one on the other end on the next trip down the floor.
 
It wasn't until Mankle buried a three of his own at 4:33 that it became a three-score game again at 34-26. After a 1-2 trip to the line by Sam Beskind, Thistlewood pushed the lead to 11 for the first time with a layup as Mines was able to maintain that gap for the remainder of the first half, getting a bucket from Regan Koch before the intermission to lead it 43-30 heading to the locker room.
 
 
A pair of steal and scores from Brendan Sullivan and Barr opened the second half and pushed the lead to 17 as the Orediggers continued to maintain a comfortable lead. Despite Western closing the gap to 12 on two occasions, the last on a Jonathan McCloud three at 14:02 that made it 52-40, the gap only widened over the remainder of the night. Riley Schroeder and Barr took turns scoring the next eight for Mines to make it a 20-point contest with 10:57 to play.
 
Krasovec gave Mines their biggest lead of the night at 25 after knocking down a pair from the stripe with just over three minutes left before the Mountaineers got the lead under 20 for the first time in nearly seven minutes on a Christian Sill three-pointer, and while the home team did score the final four points of the evening, they did little to affect the outcome as the Orediggers picked up their ninth-consecutive win by a final of 79-65.
 
NOTABLES
-Barr led all scorers in the game and recorded a career-high 20 points on 8-11 shooting with five boards, three assists, two blocks and a steal
-Krasovec and Thistlewood each finished with 11 points, with the former recording six rebounds and two steals with the latter going 7-8 from the stripe with four boards off the bench
-Mankle got back into double figures, ending with 10 points on 4-7 shooting and three assists
-Mines shot an even 50% in the games (30-60) despite going just 1-14 from three-point land
-The Orediggers went to work inside during the night, scoring 54 points in the paint with 32 coming in the first half and marking the second time in the last four games they've scored 50 or more inside (52 against Regis, Jan. 13)

LOOKING AHEAD
The Orediggers return home next weekend for two games, first on tap a Top 25 matchup with Fort Lewis Friday night before hosting Adams State Saturday at Lockridge Arena. Both games are set for 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.