SPEARFISH, S.D. – Coming off a win in the closing seconds Friday night to open their four-game road trip, the Colorado School of Mines men's basketball team looked to extend their winning streak to three games while at the same time snapping a four-game skid in the all-time series Saturday evening against Black Hills State at the Donald E. Young Sports and Fitness Center. In front of a crowd of more than 1,200 in a rematch of last year's NCAA first round match, the Orediggers (7-3, 3-1) got a career night from Cade Mankle to finally get the best of the Yellow Jackets (4-6, 2-2), continuing their winning ways by a final tally of 82-72.
 
For the second night in a row, the opposition scored first as Matthew Ragsdale drained a three to get the night going, but Mankle answered back with the next four for Mines. Neither side was able to finds a definitive edge in the early stages of action until the Orediggers went on an 10-0 run behind baskets from Mankle, Alex Romack, Adam Krasovec and Markus Pastorcic-Straun to take the lead 19-9 with 11:36 in the half before Ronnail Tape broke things up for the Yellow Jackets with a three-pointer.
 
That make keyed off a 7-0 run for BHSU that saw them close back within four at 19-15, but a trey from Juani Dassie kept the home team at bay for the time being. The lead moved back to eight after a three-point play conversion at the line from Riley Schroeder to make it 25-17 with 9:29 left before the break and again following a make from Majok Deng from downtown with 8:10 left at 28-20, but the Yellow Jackets fought their way back to within one on another 7-0 run capped by a Joel Speckman layup at the 5:41 mark.
 
Back-to-back makes from Mankle stopped the run cold along with a three-ball from Krasovec as the lead moved back to eight at 35-27 with just over three minutes to play, but again BHSU rallied and tied the game at 35 on a Ragsdale three in the final two minutes before Reagan Koch's jumper with 62 seconds before in the intermission put Mines back ahead 37-35 heading into the locker room.
 
Mankle kept it going to start the final 20 minutes of the night following a pair of offensive boards by Alex Romack but BHSU wasn't about to let Mines pull away as play resumed, keeping with within four points until Mankle drained a three at 16:33 to make it a five-point lead at 44-39. The redshirt sophomore scored the next seven points after the three to help maintain the lead before Sam Beskind got it going with a jumper to make it 53-46 with 13:11 remaining.
 
Another three from Mankle made it a 10-point game less than a minute later for the first time in the contest before another Ragsdale three quickly cut it back to a seven-point lead. Mankle, Krasovec and Schroeder combined for the next six to push the lead back to 11 as Koch answered a jumper by Ragsdale with a trey to make it 65-51 with 9:28 in regulation for the largest lead of the night.
 
The Orediggers' advantage didn't drop below 10 until there were less than three minutes left when Caelin Hearne's layup cut the lead to 72-63 before a layup by Romack pushed it right back to 11 on the next possession. The Yellow Jackets tried to extend the night by fouling and sending Mines to the line in the closing minutes, but Beskind, Mankle and Pastorcic-Straun weren't about to let the win slip away, going a combined 6-8 over the final 60 seconds to secure the 82-72 win.
 
NOTABLES
-Mankle scored a career-high 28 points and did so on 11-18 shooting which included 2-3 from deep and 4-5 from the line to go with four boards and three assists
-Beskind got hot late in the second half and finished with 13 points and was a perfect 6-6 from the free throw line with six rebounds for his sixth double-digit game of the season
-Krasovec came off the bench to tie his season high of nine points on 4-7 shooting with two rebounds, an assist and a block
-Schroeder finished with eight points on 3-7 shooting and added three rebounds, two assists, a block and a steal
-Koch posted a season-high seven points on 2-4 shooting off the bench
-Mines tied a season-high with eight three-pointers in the game as seven different players hit from downtown
-With the win, the Orediggers snap a four-game losing streak in the series and secured their first win in Spearfish since January 4, 2021
 
UP NEXT
The Orediggers will be back in the Denver metro area Wednesday night when they head downtown to take on MSU Denver.

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.