COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Playing their fifth game away from home to start the season, the #18 Colorado School of Mines men's basketball made the short trip down I-25 Saturday for a non-conference tilt with RMAC for UCCS at the Gallogly Events Center. The Orediggers (3-2) had their hands full for all 40 minutes against the Mountain Lions (2-2), engaging in a physical contest that saw nine lead changes and 10 ties, but in the end it was some clutch shooting late along with a career day from Sam Beskind that lifted Mines to a 66-64 win.
 
The Mountain Lions raced out to a 5-0 lead and led 7-2 after two minutes of action but five-straight points including a three-point play from Majok Deng brought things back even at 7-7 at 17:23. Despite UCCS momentarily regaining the lead on a hook shot from Mac Stodart, Mines took their first lead on buckets from Markus Pastorcic-Straun and Adam Krasovec to make it 11-9.
 
The back-and-forth flow of the game saw the Mountain Lions retake the lead with just under 14 minutes in the half before a driving layup and wing three-pointer from Cade Mankle around the 12-minute mark flipped the score in favor of the Orediggers at 17-14. UCCS closed within a pair with 9:29 in the half, but a layup from Sam Beskind followed by a jumper from Deng and layup from Reagan Koch made it an eight-point lead with 7:34 left.
 
The final seven minutes of the half saw a bevy of stoppages for fouls as both teams quickly found themselves in the bonus. UCCS made the most of their opportunities, but early season woes from the stripe for Mines made an appearance once again, as several times points were left on the board over the final stanza of the half. The Mountain Lions tied it at 29 with 3:15 left from the line behind Jesse Iweze to set off another round of score-for-score as Koch put the Orediggers back up at 33-31 with 69 seconds left as they looked poised to lead into the break, but a foul whistled on Riley Schroeder with just seconds left in the half on what looked to be a clean block saw another 2-2 trip to the line by the home team to make it 33 all after 20 minutes.
 
The Mountain Lions completed a traditional three-point play to resume play and retake the lead but Deng answered back with a second-chance three on the next trip down the floor for Mines as neither team was keen to relent in a game that had all the feel of a late-season conference matchup. Beskind scored five straight for Mines after a Xavier Martinez bucket to regain the lead 41-38 with 15:34 to play.
 
The Orediggers stretched the lead over the next three minutes to make it 50-40 following a second chance make from Mankle with 12:40 left that forced a UCCS timeout. Coming out of the break, the Mountain Lions scored the next eight to just about erase the lead, but a corner three from Juani Dassie pushed it back to a five-point lead with 6:35 to play at 53-48.
 
Things stayed close down the stretch as UCCS battled their way back once again to tie things at 57 on two free throws from Martinez with 3:53 left. A Dassie jumper briefly retook the lead for Mines, but a three from Dalton Joseph swung things right back the other way. Back-and-fourth things continued until the final 65 seconds when Dassie was fouled on a three and a double technical was issued to UCCS and Mines, sending the Argentinian to the free throw line for five shots, where he was able to convert three to retake the lead 64-62. A miss by the Mountain Lions on their next possession saw Beskind race down the floor and connect on a jumper to make it 66-62. A jumper from Martinez with 23 seconds left closed it to a two-point game. A foul by Martinez sent Koch to the line for a 1 and 1 with 1.3 seconds left and despite missing the front end, the scramble for the rebound resulting with time expiring and the Orediggers hanging on for the 66-64 win.
 
NOTABLES
-Mankle finished with a career-high 21 points on 10-13 shooting with three rebounds
-Deng finished in double-figures for the fifth time this season, going for 12 points and three boards as well
-Beskind took off in the second half to also finish with 12 points on 5-9 shooting with five rebounds and four assists
-Dassie came off the bench to have the best game of his young Mines career, going for 11 points on 3-5 shooting, including 2-4 from three in the second half
-Romack continued his dominant season on the glass, pulling down another eight rebounds
-Pastorcic-Straun and Koch each finished with four points and combined for five rebounds
-Mines shot .443 from the floor in the game
 
UP NEXT
Mines will make their home debut Monday evening November 20 at Lockridge Arena when they take on Williams Baptist at 5 p.m.
 
Fans can keep up with Mines men's basketball on Twitter and Instagram 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.