GOLDEN, Colo. – With the first blast of winter weather slowly marching across the region Friday, the #8 Colorado School of Mines men's basketball team got their 2024-25 season underway a few hours earlier than originally scheduled Friday afternoon against #RV Lubbock Christian in regional crossover action. It was all Orediggers (0-1) for a good chunk of the first half, but three-point woes combined with a strong shooting performance on the other side by the Chaps (2-1) resulted in a season-opening 89-78 setback.
 
After the teams traded misses on their first three possessions, Alex Anamekwe scored the first points of the night for LCU but Markus Pastorcic-Straun responded right away on the other end with the first three-ball of the season for Mines. Anameke flushed one home from deep a few possessions later before Jonathan Moore stepped outside to knock down a trey from the top of the arc to make it 6-5 and kick off a 12-2 run that saw the Orediggers go ahead 15-7 following a three-ball from Adam Krasovec at 14:49.
 
Lubbock Christian closed back within four at 20-16 around the midway point of the half following an inside jumper from Jaylen Thompson, but a quick six from Mines capped by a Majok Deng jam off a steal by Cade Mankle quickly pushed the advantage back to 10 at 26-16 with 9:49 to play.
 
Gradually the Chaps chipped away at the lead and closed the deficit to 30-29 at the 3:16 mark on the strength of an 11-2 run. A pair of jumper from Deng and Mankle stemmed the tide momentarily, but LCU scored eight of the final 10 points to end the half including back-to-back treys from Ty Caswell and Fort Lewis transfer Amondo Miller, Jr. to take a 37-36 lead into the break.
 
The three-ball kept falling for LCU to open the second half as Ethan Duncan buried two in a row followed by Miller, Jr. as part of a 9-0 run to give the Chaps a 10-point lead not even three minutes in. Coming out of a timeout, Caleb Clark knocked down a three as Mines looked to muster a response. A layup from Grant Pressly and a trey from Juani Dassie cut the gap back to 48-44 with 15:19 to play, but unfortunately for the Orediggers that would be the closest they would get for the remainder of the night.
 
The Chaps slowly started to build some distance thanks to Najeeb Muhammad, Jaylen Thompson and Duncan as the lead swelled to 12 around the 13-minute mark before reaching its peak of 14 moments later.
 
While the Orediggers ended up getting in the bonus early in the period and had success at the free throw line, two at a time wasn't enough to overcome a tough night shooting from long range as the Chaps went on to end the night shooting .533 from the floor and .458 from downtown as they kept Mines at arm's length down the stretch to win by a final of 89-78.
              
NOTABLES
-Deng led the Orediggers with 14 points including 6-6 at the stripe with five rebounds
-Pastorcic-Straun went for 13 in his first career start, going 4-6 from the floor and at the line with two assists and a steal
-Dassie went for 13 off the bench with three of his five field goals in the game coming from deep to go with three assists
-Romack finished with nine points and four boards in 17 minutes while shooting 3-5 and registering a block and a steal
-Krasovec went for eight including a pair of three-pointers
-Moore pulled down five rebounds and set new best of five points including his first three-pointer as an Oredigger in his first career start and logged a career-high 17 minutes
-Clark also went for five and saw the most playing time of his career in the game, logging 20 minutes off the bench
-Pressly and Mankle each had a team-high four assists in the game while combining for six points and six boards
-10 different players scored in the game for Mines in a balanced offensive performance
-Derek Lamb and Silas McCurnin saw brief action as both made their collegiate debuts in the first and second halves respectively
-Mines registered 16 assists on 28 made field goals and collected six steals and two blocks  while shooting .438 for the game and .824 from the line
 
UP NEXT
Mines closes out the weekend at home Saturday night at 7 p.m. against St. Mary's (TX).

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.