GOLDEN, Colo. – Looking to rebound from a hard-fought loss in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference opener Friday night, the Colorado School of Mines men's basketball team was back at Lockridge Arena Saturday evening for their lone meeting of the season against Westminster. Led by Majok Deng the Orediggers (5-3, 1-1) never trailed from start to finish, rebounding to down the Griffins (4-4, 0-2) by a final of 75-54.
 
Riley Schroeder got the night off and running with first points followed by Deng as Mines took the early lead and pushed the pace early. Deng spearheaded a determined effort to score inside, getting to the free throw line early and often while also connecting from outside to make it 17-8 after six minutes of play.
 
Markus Pastorcic-Straun's layup pushed the lead into double-digits for the first time at 11 the next trip down the floor, but Westminster managed to claw their way back even on the strength of a 14-2 run from 11:38 to 7:32 as a Tyler Kurtz jumper tied things at 24. Following a steal by Sam Beskind, Juani Dassie swished a mid-range jumper with 6:30 to play to retake the lead for good. Back-to-back three-pointers from Cade Mankle and Deng were sandwiched around a jumper from Sterling Pierce as the lead moved back to eight at 34-26. Alex Romack's driving layup in the final two minutes made it a 10-point game as the Orediggers led 38-28 going to the break.
 
The Griffins scored seven of the first nine points in the second half and got back within five at 40-35 following a three ball from Pierce, but Schroeder and Deng helped stem the surge by the visitors as they scored the next nine points, seven coming from the big man including an exclamation point of a dunk with 14:42 to play to make it 49-40 and bring the crowd to their feet.
 
Pastorcic-Straun pushed the lead back to 11 at 53-42 with 12:06 to play, setting off a sequence of makes from both teams that ended with three-straight makes from Mines, including fall away floater from Grant Pressly, a driving layup from the freshman out of Ontario off a steal by Dassie and capped by another trey from Deng that made it a 16-point game with 8:44 left at 62-46.
 
The lead hit 18 when Pastorcic-Straun recorded a steal and score of his own and set off another back-and-forth sequence that was capped with a three from the top of the arc by Schroeder to make it a 19-point game with 4:22 left at 71-52. Beskind finally broke into the scoring column, charging into the paint with a full head a steam to lay one on and give Mines their biggest lead of the night at 75-52. Westminster closed the scoring with a layup in the final minute as it did little to affect the result as the Orediggers picked up the win.
 
NOTABLES
-Deng led all players with 26 points, going 7-15 from the floor including 3-5 from deep and was a perfect 9-9 from the stripe; he also pulled down a career-high eight rebounds
-Schroeder finished with 13 points on 6-8 shooting and added three rebounds
-Pastorcic-Straun delivered off the bench for the third time this season, going for 10 points on a perfect 5-5 shooting with rebound and a steal
-Romack hauled down 10 rebounds including four offensive boards for his fourth double-digit rebounding game of the season and also added 10 points and a steal, turning in his second double-double
-Beskind dished out a career-high 10 assists in the game and added two steals, a block and four rebounds
-Mankle had eight points including a pair of treys and logged four assists
-Adam Krasovec also set a new career high with four assists in 12 minutes off the bench
-Nine different players scored for Mines who shots .484 (30-62) for the game including .531 (17-32) in the second half
-Defensively the Orediggers forced 16 turnovers and collected eight steals
 
UP NEXT
The Orediggers will be on the road for their next four games before the Christmas break, starting this weekend when they make the South Dakota swing against South Dakota Mines and Black Hills State on Friday and Saturday.
 
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.