#13/25 Mines (25-4, 18-4) at #14/15 Colorado Mesa (25-4, 19-3) – Friday, 5 p.m. – Brownson Arena - Grand Junction, Colo. [Live Stats] [Tickets] [RMAC Network] [Tournament Central]
RMAC Tournament Championship – Saturday, 6p.m. – Brownson Arena – Grand Junction, Colo. [Live Stats] [Tickets] [RMAC Network] [Tournament Central]

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BACK IN THE SEMIFINALS
The postseason continues Friday night in Grand Junction as the #13/25 and fourth-seeded Colorado School of Mines men's basketball team will matchup for the third time this season with the #14/15 and top-seeded Colorado Mesa. Tipoff is set for 5 p.m. with the winner between the Orediggers and Mavericks taking on the winners of second-seeded Fort Lewis and third-seeded Black Hills State in hopes of winning their third RMAC Tournament title.
 
FAN INFORMATION
Fans are reminded that there is no passlist for the postseason. All students with a valid ID card will be admitted free of charge to all games. All games will be streamed on the RMAC Network. Tickets and additional tournament information can be found here.
 
LIVE COVERAGE
The match this weekend will be available free of charge on the RMAC Network and will have live stats through StatBroadcast.
 
AT THE HELM
Entering his 22nd season in Golden, head coach Pryor Orser is the winningest coach in program history and on Friday November 25, he reached the 400-win mark in his career with an 82-58 win over Kansas Wesleyan. Heading into RMAC play this weekend, his overall record stands at 420-216 and 300-150 in RMAC play, the second-most wins in conference history. Under Orser, Mines has won five RMAC regular-season championships and two RMAC Tournament titles, and qualified for 11 NCAA Tournaments including two Elite Eight trips. 
 
AND THEN THERE WERE FOUR
All four of the top seeded teams in the 2023 RMAC Men's Basketball Championship won on Tuesday, as the semifinals of the conference tournament now look like something you might expect to find in the NCAA Tournament set to begin in a few weeks' time. Black Hills State dispatched Westminster 80-69 in Spearfish in their quarterfinal game, while Fort Lewis had a fight on their hands against Regis in Durango but were able to capture a 96-89 win to advance, and seed Colorado Mesa took care of MSU Denver with an 82-72 win. All four teams playing in Grand Junction this weekend have at least 25 wins on their resume this season, with FLC leading the way with 26. Just 14 teams have hit the 25-win mark as of the time of this preview, no other conference has more than one team north of that mark.
 
RECENT TOURNAMENT HISTORY
The Orediggers will look for a different result in the postseason this year as they seek their third RMAC Tournament title in program history and first since 2017. In last year's edition of the tournament, Mines went on the road to UCCS and fell to the Mountain Lions in a close 74-71 game in the quarterfinals despite a 22-point showing from Ben Boone. During the 2020-21 season, the Orediggers advanced to the finals in Grand Junction against Colorado Mesa, but were again denied tournament gold for the second year in a row by the Mavericks in a 75-74 overtime loss, also coming up short in the 2019-20 championship 69-61.
 
IN THE POLLS
The latest NABC Coaches Poll for Division II were released late Tuesday afternoon and as postseason play gets underway, the Colorado School of Mines men's basketball team was able to advance in the rankings, rising two spots to #13 in the latest polls.
As for the other RMAC teams in the Top 25, FLC dropped to #10 this week while Colorado Mesa held steady at #14 and Black Hills dropped to #16.
The top three spots remained unchanged, as Nova Southeastern, Northwest Missouri State and Indiana (Pa.) all won over the weekend, while Point Loma and West Liberty broke into the top five, moving up from sixth and eighth respectively. The latest D2SIDA Media Poll was also released on Wednesday morning and saw Mines remain in the Top 25, checking in at the #25 position despite ending the regular season on a four-game winning streak. FLC dropped one spot to sixth while BHSU fell from eighth to 12th and CMU moved up one spot to #15. Like the NABC poll, NSU, IUP and NWMSU remained in the top three spots, while PLNU moved up one spot to fourth and UNC Pembroke jumped up two spots to fifth.
The most recent regional rankings also came out Wednesday as Mines remained in sixth behind Fort Lewis, West Texas A&M, Colorado Mesa, Angelo State and Black Hills State. Behind the Orediggers are Lubbock Christian, Texas A&M-Kingsville, St. Edward's and Texas A&M International.
 
LAST TIME OUT
Mines took on five seed Chadron State for the second time in 10 days Tuesday night at Lockridge Arena in RMAC quarterfinal action and took care of business against the Eagles, leading wire-to-wire as they posted an 87-68 win. Adam Thistlewood scored the first 17 points for the Orediggers and ended the night with 23 on 8-12 shooting and 4-6 from three and was one rebound away from a double-double while Brendan Sullivan dropped 21, 15 coming in the second half. Adam Krasovec also finished in double figures with 10 in his first start of the season and didn't miss a double-double by much either, ending with eight boards. As a team, Mines shot 60% in the first half and 53% for the game.
 
AWARDS SEASON
The RMAC announced its major award winners and All-Conference teams Wednesday, saw three members of the Colorado School of Mines men's basketball program earn All-RMAC laurels, as Brendan Sullivan and Adam Thistlewood were both named First Team honorees while Sam Beskind earned Honorable Mention Honors.
 
Joel Scott of Black Hills State and Mac Riniker were named Offensive and Defensive Player of the Year respectively, while MSU Denver's Brayden Maldonado and New Mexico Highlands' TJ Sanchez were voted Co-Freshmen of the Year. CMU boss Mike DeGeorge was tabbed as Coach of the Year. Read more about the RMAC postseason honors here.
 
AND THE WINNER IS…
Kai Barr was named RMAC Defensive Player of the Week on Monday following a weekend in which he recorded his second double-double of the season and averaged 10.0 rebounds per game. The award is the first in the career for the Texan and the third this season for Mines, joining fellow big men Adam Krasovec and Adam Thistlewood. Read more about Kai's weekend here.
 
THE MILESTONE MAN
Continuing a storyline from last season, Brendan Sullivan continues to make his mark as one of the most prolific scorers in Orediggers history. Over the last four weekends, the Highlands Ranch product has cleared a quintet of milestones, surpassing 250 career assists on January 27 against Fort Lewis, collecting his 150th steal February 3 against Black Hills State, draining his 200th three-pointer on February 4 against SDM, collecting his 600th rebound against Colorado Mesa February 10 and eclipsing 100 career blocks Saturday night against Chadron State.
 
In his career, Sully now stands at 1,907 career points, passing Jim Swain (1974-78) for sixth all-time and Tuesday passed Stephen Bahl (2001-05) for fourth all-time in field goals and currently sits at 680 and would become only the fourth player in program history to reach the 700 mark if he is able to do so this season. He's also moved past Kyle Pape (2005-09) and Andy Van Wyk (1994-98) in three-point field goals, now having connected 213 times from deep, the sixth-most in program history. Meanwhile, is 158 steals still rank fourth while his 275 assists are now tied for eighth with Brett Green (2009-13)
 
A BRAINY BUNCH
The College Sports Communicators (CSC) released the 2022-23 Academic All-District teams for basketball last Tuesday, and three members of the Colorado School of Mines men's basketball program were recognized for the accomplishments on the court and in the classroom, as redshirt seniors Sam Beskind and Brendan Sullivan along with redshirt freshman Reagan Koch were among those named to the Division II team. Read the full story here.
 
TOP OF THE CLASS
In early February, the RMAC announced the All-Academic First Team for men's basketball and three Orediggers earned recognition for their work in the classroom with one claiming the league's top academic accolade. Brendan Sullivan was named the Academic Player of the Year for the third consecutive season while Ben Boone and Trent Dykema were also recognized for their accomplishments. The trio all wrapped up their undergraduate studies last May and are all currently working towards graduate degrees in Engineering & Technology Management. Sullivan becomes the fifth Oredigger to earn Academic Player of the Year honors during the 2022-23 season from the RMAC, joining Michael Sprauer of men's soccer program, John Matocha of football and Zoe Baker and Duncan Fuehne of cross country.
 
LEAGUE LEADERS
With the regular season in the books, Mines found themselves atop or near the top of the RMAC in several team and individual stat categories. When it comes to scoring, the Orediggers are second in the league in offensive PPG at 82.7 and scoring margin at 13.9, while ranking third in defensive PPG at 68.9. When it comes to shooting the rock, Mines does so at a rate of 50.1% from the field and 37.2% from long range, good for third and fifth in the league while holding opponents to 41.9% and 32.6% respectively, both second in the conference. The Orediggers also rank second in rebounds with 1,048 and turnover margin at 1.93, while leading the league in assists with a whopping 506.
 
Individually, Adam Thistlewood is 10th in the RMAC in scoring (15.5), rebounding (6.5) and field goal percentage (50.5%). while Brendan Sullivan (13.3 PPG) and Kai Barr (5.2 RPG) are both just outside the top 20. Sullivan also ranks eighth in field goal percentage at 51.6% and fourth in three-point field goal percentage at 43.1%. Sam Beskind and Thistlewood are among the top 20 conference wide in assists with 103 and 65 respectively, while Barr is tied for fifth with 30 blocks and is joined in the top 20 by Sullivan and Riley Schroeder with 18 each. Beskind also is among the league leaders in steals, as his 37 are tied for eighth.
 
SCOUTING COLORADO MESA
As mentioned earlier, CMU knocked off MSU Denver in their quarterfinal game Tuesday and comes into Friday night on a 10-game winning streak. A 14-win team at home this season, the Mavericks are led by RMAC First Team selection Blaise Threatt, who is scoring 19.0 PPG and is second on the team with 5.7 RPG. In addition to shooting .537/.459/.743, he also has 98 assists and 47 steals to rank among the league leaders. Fellow First Teamer Trevor Baskin follows at 14.3 PPG and leads the team with 7.3 RPG and is shooting .590 from the floor with 60 assists and 34 blocks, third-most in the league. Owen Koonce (7.8 PPG) has shot .451 from beyond the arc this season, second only to Threatt and has 17 steals and 11 blocks in a mostly reserve role, while Second Team selection and Defensive Player of the Year Mac Riniker (7.5 PPG) has shot .586 this season and leads the RMAC with 51 steals in addition to 29 blocks and 46 assists. Reece Johnson (7.5 PPG) and Isaac Jessup (7.1 PPG) also figure to be contributors as well. As team, CMU is scoring 77.6 PPG and is +12.0 in scoring margin. They are shooting .503/.401/.725 on the year and have an even 1,000 rebounds, averaging 34.5 per game and are +6.6 in margin. They also average more than 14 assists per game, but also turn the ball over at an equivalent rate. Led by Riniker, the defense picks up 8.7 steals and 3.3 blocks per game.
 
CHECKING THE STAT SHEET
Not too much changed after Tuesday night's win. Adam Thistlewood is still the leader in scoring and rebounding at 15.8 points and 6.6 rebounds per game and has 67 assists, 20 steals and 11 blocks. Brendan Sullivan is scoring at a rate of 13.5 per game and is shooting .522 from the floor and .433 from three with 57 assists and 30 steals, while Ben Boone is still scoring 11.0 PPG and shooting .463. Sam Beskind and Kai Barr are both averaging 9.2 PPG, with the former still among the best in the league when it comes to assists (110) and steals (37), while the latter is shooting a team-best .585, is second in rebounding at 5.1 per night and leads the way with 32 blocks. Riley Schroeder (7.6 PPG) has 40 assists, 18 blocks and 12 steals this year while Adam Krasovec has raised his scoring average to 6.8 PPG and is shooting .584 from the field and .406 from three with 29 dimes.
 
SERIES HISTORY
Mines and Mesa split the regular season series this year with each team winning in the other's gym, which bodes well for Friday's matchup. Back in December the Orediggers came away with a 74-62 win in Grand Junction while last month the Mavericks won in Golden 87-66. In the series all-time, CMU leads 54-32 and is 28-13 when playing in Grand Junction. The last time they two teams met in the playoffs was the 2021 tournament title game, which Mesa won 75-74 in overtime in Brownson Arena.
 
LOOKING AHEAD
Should Mines advance in the 2022-23 RMAC Men's Basketball Championship, they will play the winner of second-seeded Fort Lewis and third-seeded Black Hills State in the championship game Saturday night at 6 p.m.
 
Fans can keep up with Mines men's basketball on Twitter and Instagram 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.