GOLDEN, Colo. – It was a near-capacity crowd Friday night for Rock The Lock as the #13/16 Colorado School of Mines faced off against their third Top 25 opponent in as many weeks in #19/22 Colorado Mesa. Trailing by just eight points at halftime, a near-60% shooting performance from CMU in the second half allowed them to pull away and win by a final score of 87-66.
 
Brendan Sullivan led the Orediggers (20-4, 14-4) offensively and despite holding a 33-31 edge in rebounds for the game, were unable to settle into any kind of rhythm on offense, as the Mavericks (19-4, 14-3) moved into third place in the RMAC standings with two weeks remaining in the regular.
 
A Trevor Baskin free throw accounted for the first point of the night before Sullivan drained a corner three from Sam Beskind to reignite the crowd and give Mines their first lead just over a minute into the action. Back-to-back three-pointers from CMU put them back out front before Beskind made it a one-point game at 7-6 with 16:42 to play after converting a three-point play the old-fashioned way.
 
The Mavericks tried to pull away over the following minutes but the Orediggers were having none of it, as a jumper and a trey on consecutive possessions by Sullivan tied things back up at 11 with 12:38 to play. Elijah Knudsen answered with a three for CMU to regain the lead on the next trip down the floor. Ben Boone tied things back up again at 16 with just over 10 minutes remaining, but what followed was a 10-0 run by the Mavericks over the next three minutes and change to take control of the game at 26-16.
 
Despite the deficit swelling to as much as 12 over the final 4:39 of play, a layup from Sullivan and a jumper from Trent Dykema made it a 35-27 game heading into the intermission.
 
Right away the Mavericks connected on a three to open the second half and despite a Kai Barr layup, they scored 10 of the first 12 to resume play and push the gap to 16 at 45-29. Barr traded baskets with CMU on the next three scores of the game and made it 47-33 following the last of the sequence, but another 7-0 run by the visitors pushed the gap to 21 with 14:41 remaining at 54-33.
 
The Orediggers worked hard to try and battle back, cutting the lead back down to 14 at 64-50 with 7:53 left in the game after the second of two treys from Reagan Koch. The gap hovered between 14 and 17 until an 11-0 CMU run made it a 25-point game with just under four minutes left. Boone and Knudsen exchanged a pair of late three's before Thistlewood converted an and-one opportunity in the final minute as the evening ended with a final of 87-66.
 
NOTABLES
-Sullivan led Mines with 15 points on 6-12 shooting including 3-6 from three with four boards and four assists; he now has 600 career rebounds in a Mines uniform
-Barr ended the night with 13 points on 6-8 shooting with six rebounds, a block and an assist in 20 minutes
-Thistlewood added 11 points, all in the second half, on 4-9 shooting while Boone had eight points and a season-high six rebounds along with a block
 
-Koch scored six points and went 2-3 from beyond the arc with a rebound and two assists as nine different Orediggers scored in the game

LOOKING AHEAD
The Orediggers return to Golden Friday night February 10 for the first of their final three home games of the season, taking on Colorado Mesa at Lockridge Arena at 7:30 p.m.
 
Fans can keep up with Mines men's basketball on Twitter at @minesmbb. They can also keep up with Colorado School of Mines Athletics all year long on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram using the handle @MinesAthletics.