GOLDEN, Colo. – Tuesday night marked the start of the postseason for the #15/24 Colorado School of Mines men's basketball team, as for the second time in less than two weeks hosted Chadron State at Lockridge Arena. While the outcome was the same, how it happened differed greatly as a remarkable start to the night set the tone in a wire-to-wire 87-68 victory in the first round of the 2023 RMAC Men's Basketball Tournament.
 
Adam Thistlewood was unconscious to start the night shooting, scoring the first 17 points of the night for the home team over the first 4:18 while Brendan Sullivan put up a big second half as the Orediggers (25-4) held the Eagles (19-10) to just 28% shooting in the first half and under 35% for the game in the winning effort.
 
Thistlewood opened the night with a driving layup before connecting on four consecutive three-point baskets, the third of which was converted for a four-point play as Chadron State was forced to a call a timeout at 16:07 after they started the night 0-7 from the field. Coming out of the break, the Eagles' Jarrett Taylor drew a foul on a three-point try and knocked down all three from the stripe before Thistlewood scored on a jumper from Adam Krasovec as his-red hot start to the night continued.
 
A trey from Sullivan made it 22-3 at the 14-minute mark as Mines continued to extend the lead. CSC was able to battle back to within eight with just over 10 to play in the half on a three from Isaiah Wyatt, but it didn't stay that way for long as a jumper in the lane by Sam Beskind pushed the lead back to double digits for good at 30-20 with 8:36 to play.
 
The Orediggers continued to rebuild their lead over the final eight minutes of the half, leading by as much as 18 after a three-pointer from Ben Boone made it 42-24. The Eagles did score five of the final seven points before the break, but it barely made a dent in the lead as the team went to the locker room with Mines out front 44-29.
 
Chadron State scored the first two points of the second half on free throws before Mines broke things open even more with an 11-0 run to push the lead to 55-31 following a three-point play by Sullivan from Thistlewood.
 
The Eagles briefly cut the gap to 18 with 13:12 left in the game on a transition jumper from Josh Robinson as part of a 6-0 run, but layups by Kai Barr on two of the next three Mines possessions pushed the lead back north of 20 at 59-37.
 
The lead hit 25 for the first time with 10:31 left after an Adam Krasovec layup from Trent Dykema at 63-38 as for the remainder of the night, the lead dropped below 20 just two more times. A trey from Beskind made it a 26-point game at 74-48 with 6:34 to play before Sullivan connected on one of his own to make it the largest margin of the night at 77-50.
 
As the action came to a close, the Eagles scored a pair of buckets in the final 31 seconds after the Orediggers cleared the bench, but all it did was make a dent in an insurmountable lead as the horn sounded to close out an 87-68 win.
 
NOTABLES
-Thistlewood led all scorers with 23 points on 8-12 shooting and was 4-6 from three and ended the night one rebound shy of a double-double with nine
-Sullivan ended the night with 21, 16 of which came in the second half, as he ended 8-12 from the floor and 2-4 from three with five rebounds
-Krasovec nearly had a double-double as well in his first start of the season, ending the night with 10 points and eight rebounds while adding a career-high three blocks
-Schroeder and Boone went for eight and seven points respectively off the bench and combined to go 6-13 from the field with four boards and three assists
-Beskind dished out seven assists and scored six in the game while Dykema added five assists of his own
-Nine different players scored in the game for the Orediggers while 10 recorded at least one assist
-Mines ended the night with 23 assists on 32 made field goals, marking the 12th time this season they've totaled 20 or more dimes in a game
-The Orediggers are back in the RMAC Tournament semifinals for the first time since the 2021 edition of the event

LOOKING AHEAD
The Orediggers will head to Grand Junction for a Friday night RMAC semifinal matchup with top-seeded Colorado Mesa. Tip-off is set for 5 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.