RICHARDSON, Texas – The eighth-ranked Colorado School of Mines men's basketball team recorded their first weekend sweep of the season Saturday afternoon at the UTD Activity Center behind a trio of double-figure performances led by Juani Dassie in a 90-55 win. The Orediggers (3-1) trailed for only 3:54 in the contest before taking the lead and never looking back, forcing 21 turnovers by the Comets (2-2) and getting a massive afternoon from Dassie and the rest of the reserve unit in the winning effort.
 
UT Dallas scored the first five points of the night in a tip-in make from Austin Page and a three-point bucket from Peyton Dulin before the Orediggers came back to level things with five in a row from Jonathan Moore including a corner three to equalize things at 16:06.
 
Coming out of the under 16 media timeout, Riley Schroeder put the Orediggers ahead for good on a layup from Markus Pastorcic-Straun before drilling a three-pointer of his own on the next possession following a rejection by Moore. Those were the first five points of a 13-2 run that included a pair of makes from Pastorcic-Straun and four points from Alex Romack as the lead opened up to 18-7 near the 11-minute mark in the opening half.
 
The lead swelled to 29-11 thanks to an 8-0 run bookended by treys from Juani Dassie and Majok Deng with just over 6:30 to play before the Comets scored seven of the final 13 points of the half to trim the Mines lead down to 36-21 at the intermission.
 
Schroeder resumed play in the second half with another three-pointer to kick off a 9-4 run and push the lead out to 20 at 45-25 as Grant Pressly, Cade Mankle and Deng all chipped in by going 2-2 at the free throw line. The Comets tried to keep things within reach, battling back to within 16 on a few occasions and even down to 15 around the midway point of the period, but the Orediggers continued to maintain a healthy lead for the duration of the contest.
 
Caleb Clark and Dassie kicked off a 10-2 run starting at the 10:38 mark with back-to-back treys followed by layups from Adam Krasovec and Pastorcic-Straun to make it 64-41 with just over eight minutes to play.  The lead peaked at 38 late in the half as Silas McCurnin, one of the all-time great Colorado prep three-point artists, nailed the first of his collegiate career to make it 88-50 with 2:28 remaining. UTD scored the next five to get the deficit down to 33 before Dom Girish concluded the scoring with his first points of the season in the final minute to cap off the 90-55 victory.
              
NOTABLES
-Dassie led three in double figures with 13 points off the bench on 4-6 shooting including 3-5 from downtown with three steals
-Schroeder shined in his first start of the year, going for 12 points on 5-9 shooting with five assists and two boards
-Pastorcic-Straun came off the bench to net 11 points on 4-7 shooting with a career-high six assists and three steals along with two rebounds
-Pressly finished with seven points in his homecoming game on was perfect shooting on the day, going 2-2 from the floor, 1-1 from three and 2-2 at the like with three dimes, two steals and a block
-McCurnin recorded his first career three-pointer in the closing minutes of play in his second collegiate appearance
-Clark finished with career-bests in points and rebounds on the afternoon with six of each
-13 different players accounted for the Orediggers' offensive output in the game, continuing an early-season trend of spreading around production
-Mines shot .517 for the game and .467 from three-point land and registered 14 steals, the most in a game since January 17, 2023 when they also recorded 14 against MSU Denver in a 70-55 win
-The Orediggers got 55 points from their reserve unit un the game and finished with 29 points off turnovers and 28 points in the paint against 14, 12 and 20 for the Comets
 
UP NEXT
Mines returns home for one game after the Thanksgiving holiday on Tuesday November 26 at 7 p.m. against UCCS 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.