GOLDEN, Colo. – Back at home in front of one of the loudest and biggest crowds of the season for the annual "Rock the Lock" event, the #17/22 Colorado School of Mines men's basketball team took the court for the second time this season against Black Hills State. After falling behind early, the Orediggers (19-5, 13-3) rallied in the second half from down 15 to tie things in the closing seconds, but fell victim to a buzzer-beating three-pointer that saw the Yellow Jackets (11-10, 9-6) eke out an 86-83 win.
 
BHSU's Caelin Hearne scored first as the visitors took an 11-4 lead just over five minutes into the action. Adam Krasovec and Riley Schroeder scored the next four to close the gap to three and following a jumper from Blake Volmer, Majok Deng buried a three-pointer to make it a 13-11 game with 12:41 in the half before Cade Mankle tied things up less than a minute later.
 
Schroeder gave the Orediggers their first lead at the 10:38 mark on a jumper from Mankle to make it 15-13 but the Yellow Jackets answered back with seven straight to retake the lead. Four consecutive three-pointers from BHSU saw their lead swell to 13 with 5:52 in the half at 32-19, but Mines worked hard to trim the deficit before the break. Sam Beskind converted a three-point play before Deng hit an inside jumper from Krasovec to make it 32-24. Following a three from Ronnail Tape, Alex Romack converted a three-point play of his own at 3:47 to make it 35-27 as part of scoring seven straight points for the Silver and Blue. The half ended with two free throws from Deng and saw the gap whittled down to 39-34 going to the intermission.
 
Hearne scored first again to open the final frame of the night before the Orediggers clawed the way back to within three following a Romack layup, Deng three and a 1-2 trip to the line by Mankle that made it 43-40 with 18:30 to play. Beskind started his takeover moments later, scoring the next four to retake the lead for a moment, but Black Hills State answered back with an 8-0 to regain the edge 51-44. Beskind and Ragsdale traded haymakers with one another, matching each other shot for shot for close to two minutes until a jumper by the later concluded a frenetic sequence with the score 55-49 with 13:45 left.
 
BHSU slowly pushed their lead up to 15 over the next five minutes of game action, leading 70-55 with 8:43 to play as the raucous crowd tried to will the Orediggers back into the game. The home faithful were rewarded for their efforts in the final 3:42 with the score at 79-69, a 12-2 run that took the game clock under a minute tied things up at 81 as a steal-and-score dunk by Deng during the sequence all but blew the roof off Lockridge Arena before Markus-Pastorcic Straun and Mankle capped the run off with 41 seconds to go.
 
A layup by Hearne made it 83-81 and after a timeout by Mines, Pastorcic-Straun tied things with 17 seconds on a reverse up-and-under layup. With the ball and the clock in their favor, BHSU left the ball in the hands of one of the most prolific three-point shooters in RMAC history in Ragsdale, who took the clock down as low as he could before stepping back for a shot over the outstretched arm of Beskind and unfortunately for Mines and most all in attendance, finding nothing but nylon for a game-winner with no time left to overcome losing a 15-point lead to escape with an 86-83 win.
                                       
NOTABLES
-Beskind headlined the night with his third double-double of the season, scoring 19 points with a career-high 13 rebounds while going 8-12 from the field and 2-3 from deep with four assists and three steals
-Deng also finished with 19 pm 7-19 shooting and went 3-4 from the line with two rebounds, two assists and a steal
-Romack scored 18 points on 6-7 shooting and went 6-8 from the line with four rebounds and a block
Schroeder added eight points and six rebounds while going 4-7 from the field
Mankle and Pastorcic-Straun each finished with seven with the former also adding five assists
-Mines shot 18-32 (56.3%) from the floor in second half to finish the game 32-66 (48.5%) after struggling some in the opening 20 minutes
-BHSU shot 15-30 and 18-33 in the two halves to finish 33-63 (52.4%) in the game and went 13-30 (43.3%) from long range
-The Orediggers finished +14 in rebounds at 42-28 and had 12 offensive rebounds but just nine second chance points in the game
-Head coach Pryor Orser remains at 440 career wins and is now just two wins away from breaking another RMAC record, this time for all-time head coaching wins as he once again chases down legendary Fort Lewis and Western Colorado boss Bob Hofman's mark of 441
 
UP NEXT
Mines will look to rebound Saturday night at 7 p.m. against South Dakota Mines at Lockridge Arena. The game will be streamed live on the RMAC Network and also simulcasted on KCDO Local3.

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.