RAPID CITY, S.D. – On the road for the first of four games away from home before the holiday break, the Colorado School of Mines men's basketball team was at the King Center Friday night for a battle of brainiacs against South Dakota Mines. After leading for most of the night, the Orediggers (6-3, 2-1) outlasted the Hardrockers (4-5, 2-1) down the stretch, shaking off a late field goal to win it from the free throw line with three seconds left by a final score of 66-65.
 
Reigning RMAC Offensive Player of the Week Alejandro Rama kicked the night off with a three on the first SDM possession of the night as the home team lead for the first three minutes before Alex Romack jammed one home to tie things at 7-7 followed by a layup from Cade Mankle that put Mines out front for the first time at 15:50.
 
Markus Pastorcic-Straun and Adam Krasovec came off the bench to increase the lead to six at 13-7 with 14:29 to play as the lead stayed between three and seven points all the way until the 6:14 mark when Romack knocked down a pair from the free throw line to make it a nine-point lead at 26-17. Despite the two teams scrapping it out for most of the first half, a 6-0 run for the Orediggers gave them their biggest lead of the half at 32-22 as Schroeder, Pastorcic-Straun and Sam Beskind all chipped in. A jumper from Kolton Frugoli and a trey from Keagen Smith cut it to 32-27 in the final minute, but a layup from Schroeder pushed the lead back to seven heading to the break.
 
Coming out to resume action in the second half, Beskind and Romack teamed up to extend the lead to 11 following a jumper from the latter at 17:26 to make it 38-27. Adam Krasovec's layup with just under 15 minutes to play made it 46-34 in favor off the silver and blue for their biggest lead of the night, but SDM wasn't about to go quietly on their home court.
 
Cameron Cohn kicked off a 9-0 run to close to within three at 46-43 before Rama drained another three with just under 12 minutes remaining to nearly erase the lead and make it 47-46. Romack did his part to try and fend off SDM, but four-straight makes from the line by Cohn and Ethan Bruns put the Hardrockers back up 52-50 with 8:53 remaining.
 
South Dakota Mines stretched the lead to six at 56-50 with 6:29 to play, but Juani Dassie said not so fast, coming off the bench and immediately draining a three ball before Reagan Koch laid one in to make it a one-point game. After a miss by Frugoli, Dassie was fouled on three-pointer by Rama and went to the line, knocking down all three shots to retake the lead 58-56. Beskind and Majok Deng scored the next four to make it a six-point lead with 3:36 to play and set up a dash to the finish.
 
SDM scored the next four to get back within a bucket, but were answered back by two free throws from Schroeder to make it 64-60. Cohn drilled a three to once again make it a one-point game with 49 seconds left, and after a Mines turnover, Frugoli hit a fallaway jumper with the shot and game clocks winding down to take the lead 65-64 with 10 seconds left. With both teams in the bonus late in the second half, Beskind went strong to the hoop and drew a foul from Abel Hutchinson and went to the line for two shots, knocking down both free throws with three seconds left before Pastorcic-Straun knocked away the inbounds pass on SDM's final possession as Mines held on for the 66-65 win.
 
NOTABLES
-Schroeder led the Orediggers with 15 points and was a perfect 6-6 from the free throw line
-Beskind finished the night with 10 points with his final two winning the game from the line as he also finished with six rebounds; he also added an assist and now has 168 in his career
-Romack finished a rebound shy of a double-double, ending the night with nine and also dropping 10 points for the second game in the row; he also pulled down five offensive rebounds and had a block
-Four players, Deng, Mankle, Dassie and Krasovec each finished the night with six points; Deng added four rebounds, Mankle had five, Dassie was a perfect 3-3 from the free throw line and Krasovec added a rebound and an assist
-Pastorcic-Straun went for five points off the bench and also hauled down a career-high six rebounds
-Nine different players scored in the contest for the Orediggers of the 10 who saw action
-Mines asserted their dominance in the paint, scoring 36 points down low while getting 10 points off turnovers and 19 from the bench
 
UP NEXT
Mines next stop on their four-game road trip takes them to Spearfish tomorrow night in a matchup with Black Hills State at 6 p.m.
 
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.