GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – Looking for their third RMAC Tournament title in program history, the #13/25 Colorado School of Mines basketball took the floor at Brownson Arena Saturday against #10/7 Fort Lewis for the second time in the last eight days and managed to overcome a slow start to the night and rallied in the final minutes to make things tense, but ultimately came up short in their bid for gold falling 82-76.
 
The Orediggers (26-5, 18-4) saw Adam Thistlewood go for a season-high 26 points, one shy of his collegiate career high, while Brendan Sullivan dropped 17 and continue his strong play in the postseason, but in the end, the Skyhawks (28-3, 19-3) were able to withstand the second half surge from Mines and hung on in the closing moments to take home the tournament title.
 
Fort Lewis scored first and got out to a quick 4-0 lead before Trent Dykema got Mines on the board with a pair of free throws. FLC was able to push their lead to seven after an Akuel Kot jumper at 16:27 but was assessed a technical foul that saw a four-point swing with a Ben Boone free throw and a three from Sullivan closed it to a three-point game at 11-8.
 
The Skyhawks were able to rebuild their lead and push it to a 10-point edge at 20-10 on a Brenden Boatwright jumper with 13:34 to play. A couple of layups by Sullivan sandwiched around an Obi Agbim jumper brought Mines back within seven before back-to-back baskets from Boone made it a six-point game at 27-21 with 9:18 to play.
 
Over the next five minutes, FLC was able to make it a 15-point game as first half foul trouble started to stack up against the Orediggers as with 4:08 to play the score read 40-25. A couple of three pointers and a 2-3 trip to the free throw line by Thistlewood over the final 2:36 got the Orediggers back within nine as the first half closed with the Skyhawks out front 42-33.
 
Boatwright opened the second half with a layup to push the lead for Fort Lewis back north of 10 for a moment before Thistlewood drained a trey from Dykema. The Skyhawks continued to keep the Orediggers at arm's length as the half continued, as a layup and a pair of free throws from Kai Barr close the deficit to six at 52-46 with 14:08 to play was answered by a JaQuaylon Mays three to make it a nine-point game again.
 
Riley Schroeder got in on the action, as his jumper at 12:21 made it a five-point game at 55-50 as the Orediggers were determined to not to make it easy on Fort Lewis. After Akuel Kot drained a three, a three from Beskind and another jumper by Schroeder closed to within four at 58-54 with 11:25 to play.
 
FLC managed to push the lead back to 10 at 66-56 on another three from Kot with 9:22 left as the margin hovered between seven and nine for the next three or so minutes. Grant Pressly drained a three from Adam Krasovec with 4:57 left to cut the lead to 72-66 before the big Hungarian made it a four-point game with a layup about a minute later.
 
Unfortunately, Mines was unable to close the gap any further, as the teams traded baskets in the final minute of play while the Skyhawks left the door open as they failed to convert from the free throw line in the closing seconds, the Orediggers couldn't take advantage as time expired with Fort Lewis taking the tournament crown with the 82-76 win.
 
2023 RMAC Men's Basketball All-Tournament Team
Most Valuable Player, Akuel Kot, Fort Lewis
Obi Agbim, Fort Lewis
Junior Garboah, Fort Lewis
Brenden Boatwright, Fort Lewis
Brendan Sullivan, Mines
Adam Thistlewood, Mines
Blaise Threatt, Colorado Mesa
Joel Scott, Black Hills State
 
NOTABLES
-Thistlewood dropped a season-high 26 points on 7-10 shooting and went 4-5 from three and 8-10 from the line and just missed out on another double-double with nine boards
-Sullivan went for 17 on 6-13 shooting and went 3-5 from deep with seven boards and is now 10 field goals away from 700 for his career
-Beskind added eight points and had four assists despite second half foul trouble and eclipsed 300 points in his collegiate career between Stanford and Mines
-Boone came off the bench for seven points and four rebounds while Pressly ended the night with six and went 2-2 from deep
-Schroeder and Barr each finished with four while Krasovec and Dykema added two each
-Mines shot 45.5% from the floor, 40.9% from three and 81% from the line in the game and recorded 30 rebounds and 16 assists on 25 field goals

LOOKING AHEAD
The Orediggers will now await to see where they will be heading for the NCAA Division Men's Basketball Championship, with Sunday's selection show scheduled for March 5 at 11 p.m. ET on ncaa.com to determine who will make up the 64-team field that will compete for this year's title.
 
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.