GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – Opening their final road trip of the season at Brownson Arena in a matchup of two of the top three teams in the RMAC, the #21/20 Colorado School of Mines men's basketball team lined up against #9/14 Colorado Mesa looking for a different result in the second meeting of the season. Unfortunately for the Orediggers (20-6, 14-4), their recent Friday night struggles resurfaced again, losing the turnover battle and not being able to match the offensive efficiency of the Mavericks (20-3, 16-1) as their lone game of the weekend resulted in a 98-81 setback.
 
A series of turnovers opened the action with the third of three in the first 55 seconds seeing Trevor Baskin open the scoring. A jumper from Owen Koonce made it 4-0 before Majok Deng buried a corner three and was fouled on the way down by Baskin before converting the four-point play to tie things up. The score remained even for just over a minute until Baskin and Aidan Kuhl went back-to-back with a layup and three to regain the lead 9-4.
 
Markus Pastorcic-Straun made consecutive layups 40 seconds apart around the 13-minute mark, but each came following a make by CMU as the Mavericks remained out front 18-11. Pastorcic-Straun found his freshman running mate Alex Romack for a wide-open dunk to make it a five-point game, but the three-point shooting going the other way in the first half was very efficient, as Isaac Jessup, Kuhl and Michael McCurry combined to make hit the next three shots from deep for Colorado Mesa to push the gap to double figures for the first time at 27-12 at 10:38.
 
That's about how the gap between the teams stayed for most of the remaining balance of the half, matching each other make for make with Mines hanging around as CMU just couldn't quite pull away any further. A three-pointer by Riley Schroeder with 4:34 left made it a 34-26 game but was answered the other way with a three from Christopher Speller that sparked a 7-0 run over the next minute before Romack jammed another one home, this time from Cade Mankle to break things up. The Orediggers did their best to fight back before the break, with Sam Beskind draining a trey with 43 seconds left to make it a 12-point game again and while Mankle added a layup in the final 15 seconds, it was bracketed by a three and a jumper by Koonce that made it 50-35 Mavericks after a half.
 
Coming out to start the second half, Deng looked to lead Mines back into contention, scoring five of six to resume play including a jumper and a three-pointer to make it 52-41. Romack and Mankle figured into the equation as well as they whittled the gap back down to nine at 54-45 as the teams traded makes until Pastorcic-Straun made a pair of shots inside 15 minutes to close within seven at 60-53. After Johnson and Juani Dassie traded threes, a 12-0 run by the Mavericks changed the balance of the game and saw the lead swell back up to 19 at 75-56.
 
Mines tried their best to slow down the Colorado Mesa offense, but to no avail as CMU continued their hot shooting on their way to a 58.6% performance over the final 20 minutes. Mankle and Beskind scored six of eight points for Mines before Schroeder capped off the run with a jumper to get the deficit back below 20 at 87-68, but only for a moment as another three by Ethan Menzies made it a 22-point game with 5:58 to play.
 
A five-point sequence for the Orediggers came about 30 seconds later after a hard foul by Colorado Mesa, as Beskind made both technical free throws before Romack got loose inside for his third dunk of the night, getting fouled on the play and converting the free throw to make it a 16-point game at 90-74. Both teams emptied their benches to play out the final minutes of the night as Mines scored the final six points of the night on three-pointers by Caleb Clark and Taylor Spurlock and holding CMU scoreless for the final 2:18 of the night, but it wasn't enough to avoid a 98-81 loss.
                                       
NOTABLES
-Deng led four Orediggers in double figures with 18 points on 7-13 shooting, also going 3-7 from three with two rebounds
-Romack's night ended early after fouling out but still finished with 13 points and was one rebound shy of another double-double with nine while shooting 5-10 from the floor
-Mankle ended with 11 including a 5-6 night at the stripe with two boards and two assists
-Pastorcic-Straun continued to roll of late, scoring 10 points on 4-8 shooting with four assists, three rebounds and a steal and has now scored 10 or more in three of the last five games
-Schroeder chipped in nine with two rebounds, an assist, a steal and a block
-Beskind filled up the stat sheet with seven points, seven assists, five rebounds and two steals
-11 different players scored in the game for the Orediggers
-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; following the result Friday, he remains tied with legendary former Fort Lewis and Western Colorado head coach Bob Hofman with 441 career wins
 
UP NEXT
Mines will have the rest of the weekend off and return to action for their final two road games of the season next week, first heading to Lakewood to take on Colorado Christan for the second time before heading north by northeast for the lone meeting of the season with Chadron State Saturday.

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.