GOLDEN, Colo. – Less than 24 hours removed from a heartbreaking loss at the buzzer, the #17/22 Colorado School of Mines men's basketball team looked to get back in the win column against their STEM school rivals from up north South Dakota Mines. The Orediggers (20-5, 14-3) and Hardrockers (9-13, 7-9) were neck and neck for most of the night, but foul trouble started to stack up for the visitors in the second half and allowed for Markus Pastorcic-Straun to post a career night in the process, leading four players in double figures in a 75-61 win.
 
Majok Deng and Riley Schroeder gave Mines an early 5-0 lead on a jumper and a three-pointer as it was slow going both ways in the opening minutes as both teams were coming off physically draining and hard-fought games the night previous. Cameron Cohn got SDM on the board at 16:56 with an inside jumper but a turnover and a missed field goal led to four points the other way from Alex Romack and Pastorcic-Straun at the lead stood at 9-2 five minutes in.
 
A dunk from Brannagh Walsh at the 11:31 mark capped a quick 6-2 burst for the Hardrockers as they closed within three at 13-10, but a three-point play conversion from Pastorcic-Straun and a Romack jumper quickly made it an eight point-lead midway through the period. South Dakota Mines again strung together a bit of a run and again closed the gap to three at 21-18 with 6:51 left following a three from Cohn and a Kolton Frugoli jumper.
 
The back-and-forth flow of the game where the Orediggers would extend the lead and the Hardrockers would close it right back continued for the rest of the half as work at the free throw line from Juani Dassie and Pastorcic-Straun helped maintain the lead before Riley Schroeder hit a mid-range jumper with 1:18 left to make it 33-27. SDM did have multiple chances in the final seconds of the half, missing three-straight three-pointers in the final 11 seconds before the break as Mines took their six-point lead to the break.
 
As play resumed in the second half, the Orediggers still couldn't find a way to pull away by more than eight points as the Hardrockers kept hanging around, in large part due to Alejandro Rama, Keagen Smith and Frugoli. After a Deng layup made it 37-29, a sequence that lasted over three minutes saw the teams trading blows and ended with a three from Frugoli that saw the visitors trail by just three at 46-43. The turning point in the game came moments later when after a jumper by Pastorcic-Straun, Cohn picked up this third foul, turned the ball over and then Rama picked up his fourth foul with 13:41 left and had to head to the bench.
 
After a 1-2 trip to the free throw line, Frugoli hit another three to keep it a three-point game but then Smith picked up his fourth foul and had to head to the bench as well. Following another 1-2 trip to the line by Mines, Cohn and Schroeder traded makes before Pastorcic-Straun connected on a jumper to make it 54-48. Third 1-2 trip to the stripe for the Orediggers and a missed three by the Hardrockers saw Cohn pick up his fourth personal with 9:07 left as three of the top four players for SDM found themselves on the bench in foul trouble. After two free throws by Schroeder, Pastorcic-Straun picked the pocket of Guillem Garcia and ended up getting fouled by Walsh, who became the fourth Hardrocker with four fouls in the game with 8:44 left.
 
The procession to the free throw line continued for Mines, as the freshman from Toronto converted both, collected another steal, drew another foul and converted both attempts again to make it a 13-point game at 61-48 as Mines started to pull away with under nine minutes remaining and never let the advantage drop below 11 for the remainder of the night.
 
Following a three-ball from Deng, Schroeder connected on a jumper from Pastorcic-Straun to give Mines their biggest lead of the night for the first time at 16 leading 69-53 with 3:26 to go. South Dakota Mines waved the white flag with 85 seconds left, emptying their bench following two free throws from Frugoli that made it 71-59. Romack closed out his night with a jumper in the final minute before being lifted for fellow freshman Jonathan Moore, who scored with 13 seconds left on a short-range inside jumper. Bryce Sherrell scored the final points of the night on a pull-up mid-range jumper to get in the scoring column as the make did little to affect the outcome with Mines sweeping the season series with a 75-61 win.
                                         
NOTABLES
-Pastorcic-Straun came off the bench and recorded a career-high 17 points on 3-5 shooting from the floor and an 11-15 night at the free throw line while also adding three steals, two assists and two blocks in 25 minutes
-Schroeder ended the night with 17 points on 6-9 shooting and went 4-5 at the line with three rebounds, three assists and a block of his own
-Deng also posted a 17-point outing that included a 5-6 night at the stripe with three boards
-Romack added 12 on another nearly flawless night, going 6-7 from the floor with eight rebounds, an assist, a block and a steal; he's now scored in double-digits in each of the last three games, five of the last six and six of the last eight
-Beskind hauled down another eight rebounds and now has 56 rebounds over his last six games for an average of 9.3 per night
-Moore's late bucket marked the third game he has scored in in his debut season
-The Orediggers shot 76.5% (13-27) from the field in the second half and finished the night 23-43 (53.5%) while going 26-33 (78.8%) from the free throw line; over their last six games, Mines now has four contests with at least 23 makes from the charity stripe
-Mines has now won 20 games in a season for the 11th time in the last 14 seasons as the program moves closer to 1,100 total wins since its inception, now standing at 1,081
-The Orediggers improve to 22-9 all-time and 15-1 at home against the Hardrockers and have now won the last eight meetings between the teams
-Head coach Pryor Orser is now on the cusp of breaking another RMAC record, this time for most all-time wins as a head coach in the conference; with the win Saturday night, he is now tied with legendary former Fort Lewis and Western Colorado head coach Bob Hofman with 441 career wins
 
UP NEXT
The Orediggers have a single game next week as they make the return trip to Grand Junction to take on #17/22 Colorado Mesa.

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.