#21/22 Mines (20-6, 14-4) at Colorado Christian (8-15, 5-13) – Friday, 7 p.m.– Lakewood, Colo. [Live Stats] [RMAC Network]
#21/22 Mines (20-6, 14-4) at Chadron State (11-13, 8-10) – Saturday, 7:30 p.m.– Chadron, Neb. [Live Stats] [RMAC Network]

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ROAD WRAP-UP
The road portion of the 2023-24 season wraps up this weekend for the #21/22 Colorado School of Mines men's basketball team as they first make the short trip down Highway 6 to Lakewood Friday night for the second meeting of the season with Colorado Christian before making the trip northeast on Saturday for a date with Chadron State.
 
LIVE COVERAGE
Live coverage of this weekend's game will feature live stats and video on the RMAC Network, links to which are available at minesathletics.com.
 
AT THE HELM
The 2023-24 season will be the 23rd for the Orediggers under the guidance of head coach Pryor Orser. Already the winningest coach in Mines history, he eclipsed the 400-win mark in November of last season and has a career record of 441-224 overall and a mark of 314-154 in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play, and is now the all-time leader in conference wins in league history and is closing in on the all-time record of 441 total wins while coaching in the RMAC, set by legendary Fort Lewis and Western Colorado head coach Bob Hofman, who recorded 309 conference wins and 441 overall wins during his time in the league while leading the Skyhawks and Mountaineers. Under Orser, Mines has won five RMAC regular-season championships and two RMAC Tournament titles and qualified for 12 NCAA Tournaments including two Elite Eight trips. 
 
THE CAPTAINS
Second-year graduate transfer Sam Beskind and redshirt sophomore guard Cade Mankle will serve as captains for the Orediggers in 2023-24. Beskind burst onto the RMAC scene last year, averaging 9.3 points, 4.2 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game while also shooting .481/.338/.835 on the season and ranking second in the conference in total assists with 120 and leading the league in assist to turnover ratio at 2.2. Mankle split time between the starting five and the bench rotation in his first season of action last year, averaging 4.4 points and 1.6 assists per game while shooting .397/.310/.542 for the year.
 
IN THE POLLS
Mines maintained their standing in the Top 25 this week, remaining at #21 despite a loss to then ninth-ranked Colorado Mesa. This week's top five saw some slight shuffling as West Texas A&M (24-1) was the unanimous number one and remained atop the poll for the fifth week in a row while Nova Southeastern (20-2), Fort Lewis (22-2) remained in second and third. Minnesota State (24-2) rose to fourth while Gannon (23-2) broke into the top five after Dallas Baptist (21-3) slipped up and fell to eighth while Colorado Mesa (21-3) rose to sixth. The latest D2CSC Media Poll also featured an appearance by the Orediggers this week at #22 and saw WTAMU remain in the top spot, followed by MSU, NSU, GU and FLC in the top five with CMU at #13.
 
Looking at the RMAC, Mines earned a trio of first place votes and was picked to finish third in the league season behind Colorado Mesa, who earned eight first place votes, and Fort Lewis who earned four. Black Hills State and Chadron State rounded out the rest of the top five.
 
WEEK 14 RECAP
Mines had only one game on tap last week as it was a Top 25 battle with Colorado Mesa that unfortunately saw the Mavericks take the season series 2-0 with a 98-81 win. Despite the absence of Mac Riniker, Mines was unable to take advantage of four double figure scoring nights as Majok Deng led the way with 18 points while Alex Romack just missed out on another double-double with 13 points and nine rebounds. Cade Mankle poured in 11 while Markus Pastorcic-Straun chipped in 10 off the bench. Riley Schroeder added nine points as well while Sam Beskind continued to do what he does, scoring seven with seven assists, five rebounds and two steals.
 
UNRIVALED EXCELLENCE
Currently in his 23rd season leading the Orediggers, head coach Pryor Orser has seen a thing or two and is subsequently no stranger to milestone moments and record-setting success. Back on January 20 against UCCS, the legendary coach added another to his list of accomplishments, becoming the winningest coach in terms of conference wins in the history of the RMAC with 310 and counting, surpassing the mark set by former Fort Lewis and Western Colorado great Bob Hofman. With seemingly no plans to hang it up anytime soon and enjoying another successful season this year, Orser has the potential to set a record that could stand for just as long, if not longer, than the previous mark as another point on an already remarkable resume in a coaching career matched by only a few.
 
MILESTONE WATCH
As we get later in the season, it's worth noting some recent milestones that various Orediggers have hit over the course of the year. Sam Beskind has passed the 200 assist, 300 rebound and 500 point marks in his career and is on the verge of penciling his name into the Mines record books in terms of career assists as he trails Russ Pulling by just 15 for 12th all-time. Cade Mankle went over 100 career assists while Regan Koch cleared 250 points two weeks ago on the road against Fort Lewis and Adams State. Majok Deng is now over 400 points for the season with 410 and is 23 points away from 500 in his career and needs 13 more rebounds for 150. Adam Krasovec is six rebounds shy of 300 in his career and needs another 48 points for 600 in his career while finding himself 11 blocks shy of 50. Riley Schroeder went over the 600-point mark in his career over the weekend and stands at 606 and counting and is also on the cusp of 300 rebounds and 50 blocks as well with 297 and 46.
 
LEAGUE LEADERS
Several Orediggers find themselves at or near the top of the RMAC in several statistical categories. Freshman Alex Romack is third in the conference in total rebounds with 187 while his average of 7.2 per game ranks tied for fifth. Majok Deng's 15.8 PPG finds him just outside the top 10, while his 59 made three-pointers are tied for fourth with his .403 three-point percentage good for third. Sam Beskind leads the conference with 120 assists and is averaging 4.6 dimes per game while he and Cade Mankle are 1-2 in the league in assist/turnover ratio with the former in second at 2.2 (120 A, 54 TO), and the latter the best in the conference at 2.3 (70 A, 30 TO) making them two of only three players in the league with an ATO above 2.0. Riley Schroeder remains in the top 10 in blocked shots list with 24, while Romack's 19 have him in the top 15.
 
LOCKDOWN DEFENSE
As is no surprise when it comes to Pryor Orser coached teams, defense plays a big part in the success of the team and how the year will go. With four games to go the season, Mines leads the RMAC in scoring defense at 69.5 PPG and is the only team in the conference holding opponents under 70 per night. The Orediggers are also limiting teams to a .431 shooting percentage which ranks in the fourth in the RMAC. When it comes to rebounding, Mines leads the RMAC with 988 for an average of 38.0 RPG and have held opposing clubs to just 771 on the season, an average of 29.7 per game for the fewest in the league. Additionally, Mines is second in the RMAC in blocked shots with 83, averaging 3.18 per game, assists with 428 for an average of 16.5 and has an assist to turnover ratio of 1.34 which is the top mark in the league.
 
THE FINAL PUSH
Two weeks remain in the regular season as Fort Lewis and Colorado Mesa now find themselves in a tie for first atop the RMAC standings at 17-1 followed by Mines in third at 14-4 and Black Hills State one game up over MSU Denver for fourth as those teams are 11-7 and 10-8 respectively. Regis is sixth at 10-9 while Chadron State and South Dakota Mines currently occupy what would be the final two tournament spots at 8-10 each. CSU Pueblo has snapped their six-game skid and has now won two in a row to move into a tie for ninth New Mexico Highlands at 7-11while UCCS has dropped their last three to fall to 7-12 in 11th. Western Colorado and Adams State are each 6-12 and would need a monumental amount of help to make the field while Colorado Christian and Westminster are seemingly out of contention at 5-13 and 3-15 with four games to play.
 
LOOKING AT THE STATS
Entering the penultimate weekend of the regular season, Majok Deng remains the locker room leader in scoring at 15.8 PP and is shooting .418/.404/.798 as the team leader in made three-pointers with 59 and made free throws with 103 while adding 19 assists. Cade Mankle is the only other Oredigger scoring better than 10 a night at 10.6 PPG and is shooting .493 from the floor with 70 assists. Alex Romack has turned it on lately and raised his scoring average to 9.7 per night while continuing to lead the team in rebounding at 7.2 RPG while shooting .671 from inside with 27 assists, 19 blocks and 16 steals.
 
Riley Schroeder is also scoring 9.1 PPG and shooting .470 on the season with 3.5 RPG and a team-high 24 blocks with Sam Beskind stuffing the stat sheet across the board at 8.8 PPG, 6.7 RPG and 4.6 APG while adding 23 steals and 13 blocks while shooting .418 from the field.
 
Adam Krasovec (7.9 PPG, 4.2 RPG), Markus Pastorcic-Straun (6.8 PPG, .504 FG%) and Juani Dassie (4.7 PPG, .520 3FG%) have been key figures on the second unit throughout the season, impacting the game in various ways on both sides of the ball and will figure to play integral roles heading down the stretch and into the postseason.
 
Collectively, the Orediggers are +7.7 in scoring margin at 77.2 PPG and shooting .481/.366/.718 on the season. They average an even 38 rebounds per night and are +8.3 in rebounding margin while also averaging 16.5 assists per night and continue working to lower their turnover number to 12.3 per game, yet still find themselves -1.4 in that category while registering 5.3 steals and 3.2 blocks per contest. Comparatively, the opposition this season scores at a clip of 69.5 PPG and shoots .431/.336/.765 with 29.7 rebounds, 10.6 assists, 10.9 turnovers, 6.3 steals and 2.6 blocks per game.
 
SCOUTING COLORADO CHRISTIAN
The Cougars will look to snap a three-game slide Friday night against Mines as their playoff chances have all but diminished in recent weeks as they've backslid all the way to 14th in the standings by way of losses to Western Colorado on the road and CSU Pueblo and New Mexico Highlands at home. Prior to their last two losses, CCU was 8-3 when playing on their home court this season.
 
Noah Kon remains the team scoring leader at 16.0 PPG and is shooting .448/.300/.517 on the season with a team-best 69 assists along with 25 steals and will look to make up for being held to only two points against Mines earlier this season. Bradley Land is the only other player for CCU scoring in double-digits at 10.7 per night and is shooting .540 from the floor as the team's leader in rebounding at 5.5 per game, steals with 28 and has 17 blocks. Jacob Everson follows at 9.2 PPG and is tied for the team lead with 38 three-pointers, converting at a .380 clip from deep this year and dishing out 39 assists with 13 steals.
 
The man he's tied with in three-pointers is Nic Zeil, who is converting at a .392 crate from long range as part of a .464 shooting season and is second on the team in rebounding at 4.4 per game with 30 assists and 12 steals while scoring 8.3 PPG. Brenden Patrick has been a key player off the bench, scoring 7.3 PPG and shooting .496 from the floor with 35 assists and 14 steals while Schafer Reichart is shooting .414 and scoring 5.9 per night with 44 assists and 28 steals to tie with Land for the team lead. Shaylen Woodbury is also one to keep an eye on; despite scoring only 5.0 PPG he's shooting .368 from the floor, has 26 three-pointers to shoot .394 from deep and had 17 steals.
 
For the season, CCU is scoring 75.0 PPG and is -4.8 in scoring margin while shooting .453/.338/.656. They average 33.7 rebounds, 12.3 assists, 7.8 steals, 2.8 blocks and 13.5 turnovers per game and find themselves +0.5 in turnover margin. Opponents meanwhile are scoring 79.8 PPG and shooting .484/.396/.732 with 34.0 rebounds, 13.4 assists, 14.0 turnovers, 6.6 steals and 2.8 blocks per game.
 
SCOUTING CHADRON STATE
The Eagles currently occupy one of the final two spots for the RMAC tournament as they too look to snap a losing streak of the four-game variety as they'll host MSU Denver before welcoming Mines to town. Road losses to CCU and Western Colorado and home losses to New Mexico Highlands and CSU Pueblo mean the next two weeks will be critical to playing past the first weekend of March.
 
One of the top scorers in the RMAC this season leads CSC as Bryce Latimer enters the week scoring 19.5 PPG and shooting .470/.310/.795 with 103 assists and 29 steals to lead to the team while adding 10 blocks. He's joined in double figures by Josh Robinson at 15.3 PPG, shooting .568 from inside but just .466 at the line while leading the team as one of the top rebounders in the RMAC this season at 8.4 RPG while also adding 42 assists and 20 steals. Dalton Peterson and Josh Jenkins are both scoring at a rate of 9.3 PPG with the former leading CSC with 64 three-pointers and shooting .408 from downtown and the latter shooting .446 from the floor with 13 blocks, good for second on the team.
 
Jalen Patterson has come off the bench to score 8.3 PPG this year and shot shooting .423/.380/.722 while dishing out 73 assists and adding 15 steals. Martin Poznanovic is shooting .527 from the floor and scoring 5.7 per night with 16 steals while Jarrett Taylor has 36 assists and 12 steals despite scoring only 4.1 points per night. Julio Phipps is also one to watch off the bench, shooting .451 with a team-high 19 blocks along with 15 steals.
 
As a team, Chadron State us scoring 79.3 PPG and is just -0.2 in scoring margin, shooting .463/.347/.699 and are +2.3 in rebounding margin at 37.5 per night. They also average 15 assists, 11.6 turnovers, 5.8 steals and 2.7 blocks per game. Opponents this year average 79.5 PPG and shoot .474/.312/.708 with 35.2 rebounds,13.8 assists, 11.1 turnovers, 6.5 steals and 3.1 blocks per contest.
 
SERIES HISTORY
All-time against Colorado Christian, Mines is 39-13 and currently enjoying a 17-game winning streak in the series dating back to December of 2013. In the first meeting of the season in Golden, the Orediggers won 88-72 in last season's trip over to Lakewood, won 77-63 for their 14th consecutive road win in the series going back to January of 2007. Against Chadron State, Mines moved to 45-44 all-time with an 87-68 win in the second of two meetings last season the opening round of the RMAC tournament after taking a 78-74 decision in the regular season. Winners of 28 in a row in the series going back to January of 2008, the Orediggers have won their last 13 trips to Chadron going back to 2009 and picked up a 79-63 during their last visit in 2021.
 
LOOKING AHEAD
The Orediggers end the regular season next weekend March 1-2 against Adams State and #3/5 Fort Lewis at Lockridge Arena at 7:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. respectively.

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.