GOLDEN, Colo. – Looking to make it a clean sweep to close out a four-game home stand, the #14/22 Colorado School of Mines men's basketball team played host to Western Colorado Friday night at Lockridge Arena in front of a crowd close to 700. Much like Tuesday night, the Orediggers (18-3, 12-1) had a fight on their hands and found themselves trailing after 20 minutes, but a massive night by Majok Deng along with several others lifted the home team past a scrappy Mountaineers (7-11, 3-8) team for their 14th consecutive win by a final of 77-72.
 
After trading 1-2 trips to the free throw line to open the night, WCU's Amar Rivers scored the first points from the field on a three-ball to make it 4-1 Mines scored the next nine on a jumper by Cade Mankle and seven straight points from Deng, including a four-point play on a three-pointer from the wing to take the lead 10-6. The Mountaineers scored the next eight points to regain the lead 12-10 following a three by Jaelan McCloud at 12:56 to make it 12-10 before Juani Dassie buried a corner three of his own the next possession to retake the lead.
 
The lead stretched to five with 11:13 left in the period following two free throws by Beskind and a jumper by Riley Schroeder at 17-12 but Western Colorado continued to hang around, battling back to tie things up at 22 with 6:05 to play following a three-ball and a jumper by Kade Juelfs before retaking the lead on two free throws by Tyler Halligan. Another three, this time from Jonathan McCloud made it a five-point lead for the visitors at 31-26 in the final 96 seconds of play, but Mines ended the half on a frenzy, as Beskind hit two free throws before dishing out a dime to Alex Romack for a two-handed slam in the closing seconds to make it 31-30. WCU turned over the ensuing inbounds pass as Markus Pastorcic-Straun picked Spencer Wright's pocket, but Romack's attempt the horn went up too late as the teams hit the break in a one-point game at 31-30.
 
Coming out to start the second half, Deng tied things with a 1-2 trip to the free throw line, but Rivers briefly put Western Colorado back ahead two possessions later. Deng buried back-to-back treys around a layup from Andrew Reichart around the 18-minute mark to regain the lead 37-35 as the momentum seemed to start shifting in favor of Mines. WCU did battle back to tie things twice at 37 and 39 before a three-pointer from Wright made it 42-41 with 15:34 left in the game, but after a Jaelan McCloud jumper on the next possession made it a three-point game, the Mountaineers went ice cold for almost five minutes of game time, a stretch which some the Orediggers take control of the game.
 
Two free throws from Deng kicked off what ended up being a 16-0 run to take the lead back for good. Adam Krasovec joined the party, contributing from the free throw line to ultimately put the Orediggers back up for good at 13:29, while Romack went to work down low, hauling in rebound after rebound while making a pair of layups. Another three from Deng, a technical free throw from Beskind a layup from Mankle saw the lead swell to 57-44 before WCU finally snapped their scoreless drought with a three from Jonathan McCloud at 9:01.
 
The Mines lead didn't drop below 10 until there was 7:30 left in the game as Wright connected once more from long range on a scramble drill possession, and never fell below five for the remainder of the night. Two free throws from Mankle and a breakaway dunk by Schroeder off a turnover made it 65-56 with 5:46 to play as the advantage remained between seven and nine until the final two minutes. A four-point sequence following an offensive foul on Romack saw Halligan make it 69-64 following a three-pointer, but once again free throw line efficiency helped keep the Orediggers on top in the waning moments, going 6-6 in the final 1:20 with a Romack layup mixed in for good measure.
 
In a last gasp effort with 10 seconds left, Rivers drew a foul on a three-point attempt, making the first, missing the second and intentionally missing the third as Western Colorado hauled in the offensive rebound, heaving a pair of desperation three's that both missed before a tip-in from Rivers at the horn ended the night, but it wasn't enough for the win as Mines made it 14 straight wins with a 77-72 victory.
 
NOTABLES
-Deng once again led the way, scoring a game-high 29 points and finishing two points shy of his career-high of 31; his night saw him go 8-18 from the field, 4-10 from three and 9-12 at the line with seven rebounds, three assists and a block
-Romack heated up in the second half, scoring eight of his 14 over the final 20 minutes and going 7-13 on the night with five rebounds
-Mankle bounced back after some tough outings the past few games to score 10 on 3-5 shooting and going a perfect 4-4 at the line with six assists, one shy of his career high
-Beskind filled up the stat sheet in almost every category once again, posting nine points, 12 rebounds, seven assists and two steals; he now has four double-digit rebounding games this season, including 12 in each of the last two games and now has 213 career assists
-In an odd quirk offensively, Beskind scored all nine of his points in game from the free throw line, going 9-10 while going 0-6 from the floor
-Krasovec went for six points and six rebounds with an assist as he drew the start
-Schroeder added six off the bench on 3-8 shooting
-Dassie scored three on his only shot of the night, a corner trey in the first half
-After starting the night 9-26 (34.6%) from the field, Mines went 15-29 (51.7%) in the second half and once again did significant damage from the free throw line, going 24-30, setting a season-high in makes at the charity stripe in consecutive games
-The Oredigger turned the ball over just seven times in the game, the second-fewest in a game this season
-Mines' current 14-game winning streak is now the longest mark in recent history, eclipsing the 13-game streak which came in the 2020-21 season during which the Orediggers started 13-0
-Head coach Pryor Orser now has 439 career wins and has now passed legendary Fort Lewis and Western Colorado coach Bob Hofman with 312 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 hit the road next weekend as they travel first to Durango to tangle with #8/21 Fort Lewis before heading to Alamosa Saturday night to take on Adams State.

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.