RAPID CITY, S.D. – It was a perhaps a candidate for the game of the year in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Saturday night between the #10/13 Colorado School of Mines Orediggers and the South Dakota Mines Hardrockers. The fast-paced action went from wire-to-wire and saw big nights from players on both sides but in the end, it was Mines who emerged the winner by a final of 98-92.
 
Four players finished in double digits for the Orediggers (20-3, 14-3) with three ending on the north side of 20 led by Brendan Sullivan's season-high 28 which helped overcome a hot-shooting Hardrockers (6-16, 5-11) squad than connected on 15 three-pointers in the game, 10 of which came in the first half, as despite a 34-point night from Alejandro Rama, Mines was able to reach the 20 win mark for the first time since the 2019-20 season and 10th time under the guidance of head coach Pryor Orser.
 
Rama's big night started as he scored the night's first points on a mid-range jumper before Kai Barr converted a traditional three-point play to give Mines their first lead of the night just over a minute in. SDM scored the next seven to regain the lead 9-3 before Adam Krasovec and Ben Boone kicked off a sequence of eight consecutive makes between the two teams as the Hardrockers remained ahead 20-14 with 15:03 to play.
 
The Orediggers kept things close until back-to-back buckets from Rama made it 30-19 with 11:48 to play to stretch the gap to 11. Nearly two minutes of game action passed until Thistlewood drained a three to get back within eight but another surge from South Dakota Mines gave them their biggest lead of the night at 36-22 at the 8:57 mark.
 
Mines buckled down on defense and thundered back into the lead on the strength of a 17-0 run that included three-straight three-pointers from Sullivan before he closed the run with a layup with 5:57 on the clock to make it 39-36. The action remained close with the Hardrockers not letting the Orediggers pull away as they tied the game twice in the final four minutes of the half before the teams traded the lead three times over the last 1:41 before Reagan Koch tied things up with a driving layup to beat the horn to end the half at 52-52.
 
Barr scored the first basket of the second half as play resumed and put the Orediggers back out front. The lead grew to as much as nine on three occasions over the first 4:25 of the period by way of a pair of treys from Boone sandwiched around another layup from Barr as the last basket of that sequence made it 68-59, SDM didn't let Mines extend the lead beyond 10. As the pace slowed over the first 10 minutes of the half compared to how the evening began, the Hardrockers closed to within one at 71-70.
 
Two Thistlewood free theows with 8:43 to play pushed the gap back to five points at 75-70 before the Hardrockers retook the lead for a moment on another three from Rama at the 5:47 mark. Koch answered back with a trey of his own to regain the lead which held up until Brannagh Walsh connected on a three from the top of the arc to draw back even at 82-82 with 3:39 left.
 
Thistlewood again answered the call and drained another three that put Mines back ahead for the final time at 85-82. The action intensified over the final three minutes as the Hardrockers had vision of an upset on their home court, but the Orediggers would have none of it, as Boone went 4-4 from the stripe in the final 30 seconds before Koch iced the 98-92 win with two of his own in the final seconds.
 
NOTABLES
-Sullivan went for 28 to lead Mines as one of three players with 20 or more points in the game; he finished three points shy of his career high and added four steals and four rebounds and went 10-14 from the floor and 5-8 from three-point land
-Sullivan also became the seventh player in program history to reach 200 three-point field goals in a career; he is now tied for seventh all time at 201 with Kyle Pape (2005-09)
-Thistlewood recorded his sixth 20-point showing of the season, ending the night with 22 points on 6-11 shooting and made a season-high eight free throws with seven rebounds
-Boone turned in his first 20-point outing of the season as he went for 21 on 7-13 shooting and was 3-5 from deep while going a perfect 4-4 from the line in addition to three assists
-Bar added 12 of his own on 4-7 shooting in just 13 minutes while Koch turned in a career-best 10 rebounds and narrowly missed out on a double-double for the second Saturday in a row, finishing with nine points
-Mines shot .542 (32-59) from the floor, .522 (12-23) from three and .880 (22-25) from the free throw line in the game
-The last time Mines had at least two players score 20 or more in the same game was on November 11, 2021 when Boone and Sullivan did so against Regis

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.