GOLDEN, Colo. – Looking to cap off Alumni Weekend at Lockridge Arena on a high note, the #16/24 Colorado School of Mines men's basketball team took the court for the second time this season against UCCS Saturday night, looking to make it 12 wins in a row in front of the home faithful to close out the first weekend of a two-week home stand. The Orediggers (16-3, 10-1) scored first and never trailed in the contest, holding the Mountain Lions (9-9, 5-7) to just 32.7% shooting in the game as a part of a stellar defensive effort that saw head coach Pryor Orser become the new leader in conference wins in RMAC history with a 71-59 victory.
 
Riley Schroeder kicked the night off with a jumper from Sam Beskind in the opening minute, but that was about it as neither side got off to a particularly crisp start offensively, combining to start the night just 1-12 shooting the ball. Adam Krasovec made it 4-0 at 15:08 before UCCS got on the board with a three from Shareef Jaudon. A quick 8-0 that featured to three-pointers from Majok Deng sandwiched around a transition jumper from Beskind made it 12-3, nut the Mountain Lions weren't prone to go away easily as they hung around for the next couple of minutes, closing to within six twice courtesy of Xavier Martinez.
 
An 11-2 run started by Reagan Koch at 10:59 saw the lead swell to 15 at 25-10 as the redshirt sophomore buried a pair of treys while Markus Pastorcic-Straun added one of his own along with a layup from Riley Schroeder. That's about where the lead stayed until Hannes Saar took over around the six-minute mark, scoring six-straight for the visitors to make it an 11-point games at 29-18. Cade Mankle and Krasovec answered back with a pair of treys to push the lead back to 17 with 3:43 to play at 35-18.
 
However, the Orediggers cooled off the closing minutes of the opening half, going just 1-6 over the final three before the breaks as the Mountain Lions ended the half on a 9-4 run to trail 39-27 heading into the intermission.
 
Saar made it a 10-point game coming out of the break for UCCS, but that would be as close as the visitors ended up getting over the final 20 minutes. A layup by Alex Romack made it a 13-point game at 42-29 with 17:16 left in regulation before Krasovec flushed home another three-ball to make it 47-31 just over two minutes later. The big Hungarian continued his red-hot play over the past three weeks, scoring seven-straight points for Mines around the midway mark of the half to keep the lead around 17.
 
Pastorcic-Straun backed up his strong outing off the bench Friday night with another one Saturday, as he scored six-straight points from 6:20 to 4:40 and giving the Orediggers their largest lead of the night at 18 following his final make that saw the scoreboard show 67-49.
 
Things did get interesting in the closing minutes of action, as UCCS started a procession to the free throw line that included a pair of three-shot trips and saw eight of 10 points scored from 3:52 to 1:23 come from the stripe as the mood tensed with the lead down to 10 at 69-59. Fortunately, a late rally was not in the cards as two free throws from Beskind in the final minute closed things out for the historic 71-59 win.
 
NOTABLES
-The Mines bench carried the day in the win with Krasovec leading the way once again, going for 17 points on 7-12 shooting including 3-4 from long range with six rebounds; he has now scored in double figures six times this season and done so in each of the last 15 games with a pair of double-doubles
-Pastorcic-Straun went for double-digits off the bench for the second time in as many nights, finishing with 12 points on 4-7 shooting with two rebounds and two steals
-Koch added 10 points on 4-7 shooting also and was 2-4 from downtown with six rebounds
-Beskind stuffed the stat sheet once more, finishing with eight points, seven rebounds and seven assists
-Romack added six points and six rebounds with two assists and two blocks
-Mines' current 12-game winning streak is now just one shy of tying the longest mark in recent history, set back in the 2020-21 season during which the Orediggers started 13-0
-The Orediggers outscored the Mountain Lions 41-15 in bench points, 16-7 on second chance points and 10-7 on fast break points
-Head coach Pryor Orser now has 437 career wins and has now passed legendary Fort Lewis and Western Colorado coach Bob Hofman with 310 wins in RMAC action, while continuing to move closer to the latter's all-time wins record of 443 as a coach in the RMAC
 
UP NEXT
Mines will take on MSU Denver and Western Colorado in the final two games of their current home stand starting Tuesday night at Lockridge Arena.

Fans can keep up with Mines men's basketball on X and Instagram at @minesmbb. They can also keep up with Colorado School of Mines Athletics all year long on Facebook, X and Instagram using the handle @MinesAthletics.