GOLDEN, Colo. – Playing at home for just the second time in the opening weeks of the season, the Colorado School of Mines men's basketball team opened Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play Friday night against #18 Colorado Mesa at Lockridge Arena. In a game that featured 10 ties and six lead changes, in the end it was the Mavericks (4-1, 1-0) who got the upper hand in the late going as despite four players scoring 10 or more points, the Orediggers (4-3, 0-1) came up short by a score of 86-79.
 
It was an ominous opening stretch for Mines who won the tip but turned it over on their first possession as CMU raced out to a 5-0 lead before Majok Deng ignited the crowd with a three ball to get the Orediggers on the board. Adam Krasovec tied things on a dime from Sam Beskind before Alex Romack gave the Orediggers their first lead on a second-chance layup at 15:52 to make it 7-5.
 
A back-and-forth battle followed as Mesa tied things at seven before Trevor Baskin and Riley Schroeder traded three-pointers as it remained even. Markus Pastorcic-Straun got in on the action as well before Schroeder completed a traditional three-point play as Mines came out ahead 15-12 after the frenzied sequence.
 
Juani Dassie came off the bench and buried three consecutive shots from downtown to all but blow the roof off Lockridge Arena as the Mines lead swelled to 24-14 with 9:22 left in the half. Though the lead got as high as 11 in the opening 20 minutes at 26-15, the Mavericks managed to erase the deficit, tie the game and take the lead before the break, ending the period on a 20-4 run over the final 7:26 of action to make it 35-30.
 
With a renewed vigor in the second half, the Orediggers came out swinging as Deng scored a quick five sandwiched around a layup from Baskin. CMU weathered the surge and pushed the lead back to eight on another layup from Baskin at 16:40 before Cade Mankle kicked off a 10-0 run that also featured Schroeder and Beskind saw Mines retake the lead 47-45 with 13:58 to play on a layup from Romack.
 
Both teams exchanged pleasantries from the free throw line over the next minute-plus before Colorado Mesa retook the lead on a three from Ty Allred to make it 52-51. Mines tied things twice briefly in the following moments, but a bucket from Christian Speller at 11:39 ended up being the one that would put the visitors up for good.
 
Though the gap on the scoreboard swelled to as much as eight points on several occasions, the Orediggers never let up, closing back within three at 78-75 with 1:55 remaining following two free throws from Deng and a jumper from Mankle off a steal from Pastorcic-Straun. A three from Owen Koonce with 33 seconds left made it a three possession game at 82-75 as the Orediggers last gasp wasn't enough to open conference play with a win, as CMU picked up an 86-79 win.
 
NOTABLES
-Mankle led the way in scoring for Mines, finishing with 15 points on 7-9 shooting and adding two rebounds and two assists
-Deng posted his seventh double-digit game of the season, ending with 13 that included a perfect 5-5 from the line
-Schroeder posted his third double-figure outing of the season, going for 12 on 4-9 shooting and pulling in five offensive rebounds while adding two blocks and two steals
-Dassie came off the bench to add 11 points, nine of which came by way of the three ball
-Beskind finished one point and one rebound shy of a double-double, ending the night with nine points and nine assists while adding four boards
-Romack followed up his double-double last Monday with eight points and six boards along with a block
-Mines shot .473 from the field in the game, including .583 in the second half
 
UP NEXT
The Orediggers will look to rebound Saturday night against Westminster at 7 p.m. at Lockridge Arena.
 
Fans can keep up with Mines men's basketball on X and Instagram at @minesmbb. They can also keep up with Colorado School of Mines Athletics all year long on Facebook, X and Instagram using the handle @MinesAthletics.