GOLDEN, Colo. – Taking the court at Lockridge Arena one final time in 2023, the Colorado School of Mines men's basketball team looked to get back in the swing of things coming out of the holiday break Sunday afternoon against Northern New Mexico. In a game which they never trailed, the Orediggers (10-3) posted their highest scoring output of the season with four players finishing in double-digits as they knocked off the Eagles 93-62.
 
Majok Deng started the scoring in the first 10 seconds with a 2-2 trip to the free throw line before Cade Mankle drained his first three-ball of the day following two makes from the line by NNMC. A transition jumper by Malek Malual tied things at 8-8 with 16:43 in the half, but a quick 7-0 burst by the Orediggers led off by a three from Deng along with buckets from Juani Dassie and Adam Krasovec pushed the advantage to 15-8.
 
Back-to-back treys from Dassie gave the Orediggers their biggest lead of the half at 21-10, but a 12-2 run by the Eagles closed things to almost even as they all but erased the lead, making it 23-22 following a three from Joziah Ramos with 7:18 in the half. Mines answered by scoring the next 10 points as Markus Pastorcic-Straun kicked off a run that included treys from Reagan Koch and Deng along with two free throws from Grant Pressly. A couple of jumpers by Northern New Mexico did little to stem the momentum as another long run, this time of the 11-0 variety pushed the lead to 20 after a transition layup from Mankle at 46-26. Romack and Sam Beskind closed the scoring for Mines in the half at the stripe as after 20 minutes the scoreboard read 49-30.
 
Coming out of the half, the Orediggers went on a 10-0 run courtesy of Riley Schroeder, Mankle, Romack and Deng as the lead hit 29 at 59-30 not even two minutes into the half. Schroeder made it a 30-point game moments later for the first time with a transition jumper before the Eagles hit a pair of three-pointers to get back within 24 at 63-39 around the 16-minute mark. Another 10-0 run by Mines over a nearly three-and-a-half-minute stretch near the mid-way point of the period pushed the advantage back up to 32 at 75-43 following another trey from Dassie.
 
A free throw from Reyes Hererra with under 10 minutes to play momentarily made it a 29-point game, but a three from Grant Pressly two possessions later pushed the lead back over 30 for good at 78-46. Dassie's fourth three of the day gave Mines their biggest lead of the day at 36 with 7:38 to play at 83-47 as around the five-minute mark, both teams emptied their benches to play out the stretch. Dom Girish, Wade Kahl and Caleb Clark got their names in the scoring column in the closing minutes as the Orediggers closed out the calendar in style, running their winning streak to six games with a 93-62 win.
 
NOTABLES
-Dassie recorded his third double-digit scoring game of the season, posting a career-best 16 points off the bench on a perfect 6-6 shooting that included a 4-4 day from long range in 16 minutes
-Deng also added 16 on 5-10 shooting and went 4-7 from downtown with two rebounds, an assist and a steal
-Mankle went for 12 on 5-8 shooting including 2-3 from three and has now scored in double-figures in four straight games
-Romack posted 10 points for his fourth double-figure outing of the season while adding five boards and three assists
-Beskind dished out 10 assists in a game for the second time this season, giving him 61 on the season and 190 in his career between Stanford and Mines
-Schroeder added nine points and seven rebounds along with three assists
-Krasovec went for eight off the bench with three rebounds and two assists
-Wade Kahl scored the first points of his collegiate career in the closing minutes of action
-13 different players scored in the game for Mines
-The Orediggers posted their highest assist total of the season in the win, registering 28 on 33 made field goals
-For the game, Mines shot 58.9% (33-56) including 60% (18-30) in the second half and were 48.1% (13-27) from beyond the arc
 
UP NEXT
The Orediggers close out non-conference Thursday at 5 p.m. against Regis before resuming RMAC play Saturday at 3 p.m. against Colorado Christian 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.