ALAMOSA, Colo. – The #15/24 Colorado School of Mines men's basketball team opened the final weekend of the regular season Friday as they made the return trip to Alamosa to take on Adams State, picking up a 92-60 win to record their 23rd win of the season.
 
The Orediggers (23-4, 17-4) got double digits from five different players led by  a 21-point night from Adam Thistlewood and outscored the Grizzlies (5-22, 3-18) 55-31 over the final 20 minutes and did so by shooting better than 63% in the second half in the winning effort.
 
Mines scored the first points of the night by way of a 1-2 trip to the stripe from Barr before Thistlewood drained a three to make it 4-0 early. Luke Williams answered for Adams State on their next trip down the floor to get them on the board before Thistlewood and Kai Barr scored the next six points for the Orediggers to lead 10-2 at 15:41 in the half.
 
Slowly over the next five minutes, the Grizzles managed to work their way back into contention and took their first and only lead of the night on a Rhaven Brown dunk at the 9:27 mark to make it 17-16. Sullivan answered right back for Mines following a media timeout with a layup to regain the lead before a Ben Boone jumper made it 20-17 with 8:23 on the clock.
 
A two-minute scoreless stretch was broken up by two ASU free throws but a 7-0 Mines run followed to make it 27-19 with just over five minutes to play courtesy of Thistlewood and Kai Barr. A three from Trent Dykema gave the Orediggers their biggest lead of the half at 32-21 with 3:04 to play as Mines was able to maintain their advantage heading into the intermission, holding a 37-29 lead after 20 minutes.
 
Sullivan scored the first five of the second half to push the lead back to double-digits as Mines began to pull away as the action resumed. The lead hit 15 for the first time in the second half at 56-41 on a Sullivan layup with 11:48 to play and hit 20 shortly thereafter on a three from Ben Boone to make it 63-43 at the 10:17 mark.
 
The lead never dipped below 20 for the remainder of the night, as with 6:29 left two free throws from Dykema made it a 30-point lead for the first time at 76-45. ASU was briefly able to get the gap back down to 28 on a few instances over the final minutes before Caleb Clark and Adam Krasovec closed out the night scoring with a three and a scramble drill layup over the last 63 seconds to seal the 92-60 win.
 
NOTABLES
-Thistlewood led all scorers with 22 points on 9-13 shooting that included 3-5 from three along with four rebounds and a block
-Sullivan went for 16 on 7-12 shooting with two boards, two assists and two steals
-Barr notched his second double-double of the season with 12 points and 12 rebounds and finished 4-6 from the floor with two assists and a steal
-Schroeder and Boone both came off the bench for double figures, scoring 12 and 10 apiece and combining to for 8-14 from the field
-Dykema added nine points on 2-4 shooting and 4-6 from the line and added four boards
-Nine different players scored in the game for Mines as they outrebounded ASU 38-31 and forced 13 turnovers

LOOKING AHEAD
Mines closes out the regular season with a rematch against #5/6 Fort Lewis Saturday night in Durango at 7 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.