ALAMOSA, Colo. – The #13/18 Colorado School of Mines men's basketball team opened Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play Thursday night with an 84-79 win over Adams State on the road. The Orediggers (5-1, 1-0) overcame a slow start to the night and battled their way to the lead late in the second half, staving off the Grizzlies (4-4, 0-1) at the conclusion of a 40-minute heavyweight bout.
 
Adams State came out on fire to open the game racing out to a 13-2 lead over the first four minutes before Riley Schroeder kickstarted a 10-0 run at 15:28 to close to within a point at 13-12 following a jumper from Markus Pastorcic-Straun at 12:47.
 
The Grizzlies withstood the counter from the Orediggers and continued to lead for the next four-plus minutes until Majok Deng buried a corner three to flip the score for the first time in the game at 25-23. ASU retook control the next two possession with a layup from Jude Tapia and an alley-oop dunk from Cameron Kimble to make it 27-25 with 7:18 in the half.
 
Two Grant Pressly free throws tied things up on the next trip for Mines, but Adams State led by Tapia pushed the lead back out to six in the following minutes and eventually up to nine with 3:11 left before the break at 42-33. Three-pointers from Pressly and Juani Dassie down the stretch preceded a traditional three-point play by Pastorcic-Straun to make it a 46-42 contest heading to the break.
 
Coming out of the intermission, Cade Mankle and Majok Deng scored the first four points to level things at 46 all but once again, Adams State was able to take the punch and recover as they scored the next five to regain the lead. The gap remained single digits as play went on until Alex Romack keyed off a 9-0 run the included a three ball from Dassie to take the lead 58-56 on a Riley Schroeder layup with 12:46 to play.
 
The lead changed hands again following four-straight from Tapia that made it 62-59 before Romack and Deng scored six in a row to regain the edge 63-62. Mines managed to maintain that lead until Wyatt Helming went on a 7-2 run of his own with around five minutes left to play to put the home team back out front 75-74. The lead changed hands three times on the next three possessions with the Orediggers finally grabbing it up for good following another corner three from Deng with 2:19 left that made it 79-77.
 
With time winding down, Romack sent a message with a two -handed slam off a Deng steal with 72 seconds left before the graduate transfer from Pepperdine iced things at the free throw line. Caleb Clark helped spearhead the final effort on defense and as the horn sounded, the Orediggers collectively exhaled having secured a hard-earned 84-79 win.
 
NOTABLES
-Romack led the way with 23 points and narrowly missed a double-double with eight rebounds while going 9-11 from the floor and 5-6 at the stripe
-Deng went for 19 behind a 7-16 night shooting including 2-5 from three and helped ice things late at the free throw line
-Dassie and Pastorcic-Straun each closed the night with nine points and combined for three steals between them
-Mankle and Schroeder both added seven as the former added three assists, two steals and a block while the latter had three boards
-Pressly netted five in the winning effort and had another monster game on the glass, hauling down eight big rebounds and adding two steals as well
-Reagan Koch and Jonathan Moore each added a block and combined for seven rebounds
-Mines held the Grizzlies to just 12-31 shooting (.387) in the second half after they opened the night by going 20-24 (.588) in the first half
-The Orediggers recorded 10 steals on 14 ASU turnovers
 
UP NEXT
The Orediggers continue their westward swing this weekend with a trip to New Mexico Highlands Saturday in Las Vegas at 3 p.m.

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.