LAKELAND, Fla. – The 2023-24 season officially got underway Saturday for the #18 Colorado School of Mines men's basketball team, playing the sixth game of the season across the whole of NCAA Division II at the Small College Basketball Hall of Fame Classic hosted by Florida Southern as they took on #16 Bentley. Despite a strong start to the game, foul trouble throughout and a sluggish start to the second half shooting the ball set the Orediggers (0-1) in hole they couldn't climb out of, as the Falcons (1-0) picked up win 69-51.
 
Mines wasted little time taking the early lead as Pepperdine transfer Majok Deng scored the first points of the season on a steal and score before hitting a trey from the wing after a Bentley bucket to make it 5-2 in the opening moments.
 
A triple from Cade Mankle on the next trip down the floor made it a six-point Mines lead at 8-2 before Bentley started to do some work inside the paint as the lead shrank to 8-6 following a Cash McClure layup at the 17-minute mark. Despite now just leading by two, the Orediggers kept their composure and retained between a four- and six-point lead until the Falcons tied things at 16 with 10:59 to play on a step back jumper from All-American Zach Laput.
 
Riley Schroeder put Mines back ahead two possessions later with a driving layup from Grant Pressly and after Bentley tied it again at 18, Juanie Dassie connected on the first trey of his Mines career at 9:05 to make it 21-18.
 
The Falcons took the lead for the first time with 4:41 left in the half as Zach Laput drained a three off a Mines turnover to make it 25-24 before adding two free throws to make it a three-point lead. Bentley led by as much as seven at 31-24 as part of an 11-0 run to swing momentum in their favor before Markus Pastorcic-Straun cleaned up his own miss underneath the basket to stop the run with 2:23 to play.
 
Another three from Dassie with under 90 seconds left in the half put Mines in a good place, looking to trail by just three heading into the half, but a fall away jumper at the horn from McClure saw BU take a 34-29 lead to the break.
 
Trailing by five to resume action in the second half, the Orediggers found themselves down by double-digits through a combination of effective offense by the Falcons, continued foul trouble and a lack of friendly rolls on the offensive end, as despite getting quality look after quality look, the shots refused to fall as it was 40-30 with 17:17 to play.
 
A 1-2 trip to the line from Deng cut it to a four-point game to resume play, but Bentley quickly raced back out to a seven-point lead, hitting double-digits on an Aaron Latham three with 17:17 left. Despite a Mankle layup from Romack two minutes later, Mines was unable to shake off a slow start to the half shooting the ball as the Falcons pushed the lead back to 10 with 14:54 in the game. Despite their best efforts and a renewed sense of urgency on offense, the Orediggers never managed to cut the lead to below 10 for the remainder of the contest.
 
Pressly showed some flash with a pair of jumpers while freshman Alex Romack also showed his ability to pound the glass. Sam Beskind added a late three-pointer while Dom Girish and Taylor Spurlock each found the scoring column in the closing minutes, but by then things were already decided as Mines came up short on opening day 69-51.
 
NOTABLES
-Deng finished with 11 points, logging his first double-digit game since March 22, 2021 in the quarterfinals of the College Basketball Invitational and added three rebounds
-Dassie went for eight points on 3-4 shooting including 2-3 from three-point land while adding six boards
-Mankle added seven points with four rebounds in 25 minutes
-Romack battled foul trouble to finish with four points, eight rebounds and two assists in 19 minutes
-Dom Girish scored the first points of his career after subbing on in the final two minutes, while Taylor Spurlock also added two
-Several players made their Mines debut Saturday, as Deng and Romack each made the first starts of their careers as Orediggers while Dassie, Girish, Jonathan Moore and Pastorcic-Straun all checked in off the bench
-Deng becomes the first Mines player to ever wear #0 in program history
 
UP NEXT
Mines will take on another Top 25 opponent Sunday morning in #25 Mercyhurst to close out their time at the Small College Basketball Hall of Fame Classic at 11 a.m. ET.
 
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.