DURANGO, Colo. – On the final night of the regular season, it was another Top 25 clash for the #15/24 Colorado School of Mines men's basketball team, as they took on newly-minted #5/6 Fort Lewis Saturday night in Whalen Gymnasium and closed out the regular season on a four-game winning streak with a 75-64 win.
 
On a night where both teams struggled to shoot the ball at times and it felt like one player could emerge and takeover the game, Adam Krasovec answered the call for the Orediggers (24-4, 18-4) and picked a fine time to have his best game of the season, coming off the bench to have another big night against the Skyhawks (25-3, 19-3) as the home team just never got going on offense in front of a capacity crowd of more than 2,600.
 
Mines struck first in the opening seconds as Kai Barr won the tip and played it back to Sam Beskind before streaking to the hoop for a lob pass to throw it down with two hands and set a tone early. JaQuaylon Mays gave FLC their first lead on a step-back three at 18:39 as while both sides had numerous quality looks early, nothing was falling in the early minutes of the action.
 
Akuel Kot finally broke a nearly two-and-a-half-minute scoreless streak with a pull up three to make it 6-2 before Ben Boone tied the game up on the next two possessions for the Orediggers. A layup from Sekou Dembele kicked off the first of five lead changes over the next two or so minutes. A trey from Boone made it 9-8 but a floater by Kot flipped the score back the other way just as quickly.
 
After mass subs by both sides, Riley Schroeder and Obi Agbim traded buckets in succession by the Californian went up strong to the basket for a driving layup to make it 13-12 Mines with 11:01 to play. The first half shooting woes continued as just about another two minutes of game action elapsed before Kot connected on a step back jumper as the lead changed hands once more.
 
Brendan Sullivan tied the game at 14 with 8:29 in the half on a 1-2 trip to the free throw line before the Orediggers were able to regain the lead and start to stretch it following a layup from Krasovec and a pull-up jumper from Trent Dykema to make it 18-14 with six minutes left. The pace started to pick up over the final five minutes of the period with Mines still out front and pushing the lead to 10 for the first time by way of a 10-2 run courtesy of Adam Thistlewood and Krasovec to make it 28-18 with 3:15 on the clock.
 
Fort Lewis was able to close back within three in the final minute on a layup from Brendan Boatwright but a technical foul on Mays resulted in two makes from the free throw line by Dykema as Mines closed the half with a 34-27 lead.
 
The final 20 minutes began with both teams trading baskets in the first 30 seconds before Kot cut the lead to 36-31 with a jumper at 18:09. Mines scored seven of the next nine as a trey from Sullivan at 15:52 pushed the lead back to 10 at 43-33. Slowly over the next few Minutes, the Orediggers managed to gain some space as the big Hungarian took over, scoring six-straight points to make it a 16-point game at 49-33 with 13:28 to play.
 
The largest lead of the night for Mines was slowly whittled away by the Skyhawks, no strangers to having to come from behind having done so on several occasions this season. Despite struggling to shoot from the field, the charity stripe allowed Fort Lewis to work back within six after four-straight makes to make it 53-47 with just over nine and a half minutes to play.
 
Thistlewood and Sullivan scored a quick four to push it back to a 10-point cushion at 60-50 at 5:55,  before back-to-back three balls from Beskind and Krasovec pushed the advantage to 12 at 66-54, but a procession to the free throw line brought the lead back to single digits as it became an eight-point contest with less than 2:30 in regulation.
 
Try as they might, the Skyhawks just could not find the range from the floor in large credit to a well-executed defensive game-plan by the Orediggers over the entirety of the night and especially in the closing minutes. Kot hit an off-balance three with 1:49 to play to make it 70-63 as FLC tried to extend the action by playing the foul game, but Mines was up to the task, as they sealed away the win at the line to enter the postseason with a 75-64 win and earn their first win over a top five ranked opponent this season in the process.
 
NOTABLES
-Krasovec turned in another huge game against the Skyhawks Saturday night, dropping a season-high 2- points on a season-high seven made field goals as he missed just once from the floor in the game while also going 2-3 from deep and adding five boards and three assists
-Thistlewood went for 16 points on 7-13 shooting with six rebounds
-Boone and Schroeder each had eight points off the bench and went 7-16 shooting combined
-Sullivan, Dykema and Barr all finished the night with six points and had 15 rebounds between them, while Beskind pulled down a season-best eight rebounds to go with five points and three assists
-Mines shot 50% in the second half and went 12-15 at the line over the final 20 minutes while holding Fort Lewis to just 32.8% (19-58) shooting in the game and 21.4% (6-28) from three
-The win snaps a three-game losing streak for Mines in the series and in in Durango for the first time since February 12, 2021
-Mines will enter the 2022-23 RMAC Men's Basketball tournament as the fourth seed

LOOKING AHEAD
The postseason begins for the Orediggers at home Tuesday night as they'll host the opening round of the 2022-23 RMAC Men's Basketball Championships at Lockridge Arena against fifth-seeded Chadron State. Tip-off is scheduled for 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.