GOLDEN, Colo. – The #10/11 Colorado School of Mines basketball closed out Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play in the 2024 calendar year with a wire-to-wire 85-64 win over Westminster Monday afternoon at Lockridge Arena. The Orediggers (8-1, 4-0) opened the game on a 14-0 run and never looked back and while the Griffins (7-5, 1-3) made it close late in the first half, they were unable to match the firepower of the Silver & Blue over the course of the afternoon.
 
It was an Oredigger onslaught to open the game, scoring the first 14 points over the opening four minutes to set the tone. The run included a quartet of three-pointers from Majok Deng, Reagan Koch, and Cade Mankle. Westminster cracked the scoreboard at 15:40 on a Peter Amakasu jumper and went to work about trying to get themselves back into contention. Caleb Clark joined the early three party to make it 17-4 at the 13:40 mark before momentum started to swing briefly in favor of the opposition.
 
A three-pointer by Donaval Avila capped a 9-3 WU run and clipped the lead to 20-13 with 8:51 left in the opening half. Mines managed to keep the visitors at bay by between six and nine points for the next four or so minutes until an 8-3 run by the Griffins made it a four-point game at 30-26 with 3:58 to go.
 
Markus Pastorcic-Straun led the counter for Mines as he kicked off an 8-0 run that saw the lead move back to 12 at 38-26 following a 2-2 trip to the stripe by Riley Schroeder. Schroeder converted twice more at the line before the break following a Westminster bench technical, while Nicholas Holland went 1-2 for the visitors as the Orediggers took a 40-27 lead into halftime.
 
Deng and Koch splashed a pair of treys coming out of the break and combined to score the first 11 of the second half to make it a 20-point game for the first time at 51-31 with 15:36 to go. Mines kept good going as the offense continued to hum with Juani Dassie making it a 24-point game with a three at 13:34, the first of four treys he would make in the period. Alex Romack put in the good work down low, converting an old-fashioned three-point play on the next possession as the Orediggers tried to pull away.
 
The Griffins did all they could to stay within reach, working the gap down to 17 early in the half, but a dreadful afternoon from three-point land did them no favors as the long ball continued to fall for Mines. An 11-2 run around the midway point of the half featured Pastorcic-Straun, Schroeder, Dassie and Deng as the lead swelled to 28 at 76-48 and never dipped below 20 for the final eight minutes.
 
Dassie, Koch and Jonathan Moore helped carry the Orediggers to the finish line and though WU ended the game on a 12-2 run, it did little to impact the result as Mines moved to 4-0 in RMAC play with the 85-64 win.
 
NOTABLES
-Deng was once more the lead man as he dropped a game-high 20 points on 7-13 shooting including 4-7 from deep with four rebounds, three assists and three steals
-Dassie added 12 off the bench, all in the second half on 4-8 from downtown
-Koch, making his first start since November 11 of last season, finished with 11 points on 4-7 shooting including 3-5 from three with two rebounds, two blocks and two steals
-Romack dropped 11 as well off the bench on 4-6 from the field and 3-5 at the line with four rebounds and three assists
-Moore pulled down a career-best eight rebounds while going a perfect 3-3 shooting to finish with six points
-Pastorcic-Straun stuffed the stat sheet with nine points, five assists, four rebounds and two steals
-Mankle dished out six assists to go with three rebounds, a block and an assist
-Defensively Mines held Westminster to 2-12 (16.7%) in the game from three and 0-5 in the second half
-The Orediggers shot an even 50% (29-58) in the game and finished just shy of that from three at 46.7% (14-30), tied for their second-best shooting percentage from long range in a game this season
-Mines collected 41 rebounds for the second game in row with 13 more coming on the offensive glass, accounting for 40 of their 82 rebounds the last two games
 
UP NEXT
A trip to Las Vegas, Nevada awaits the Orediggers at the end of the week as they'll participate in the Holiday Hoops Classic at the South Point Casino against West Liberty and Angelo State on Thursday and Friday December 19 and 20.

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.