CANYON, Texas. – Playing in the primetime spot to close out the first day of the 2024 South Central Regional in the Round of 64 in the NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Championship, the fifth-seeded Colorado School of Mines men's basketball team lined up against fourth-seeded Dallas Baptist in just the second-ever meeting between the two teams. Despite trailing by only two at the half, the Orediggers (24-9) couldn't overcome a second-half surge and relentless full court pressure by the Patriots (25-5), as they saw their season come to a close with a final score of 86-73.
 
Mines started off the night right with a long two from Majok Deng before Trevor Frank and Justin Haire scored the next five points to give DBU their first lead of the night. Both teams struggled to get going offensively in the opening minutes until Markus Pastorcic-Straun buried a corner three to draw back even before Cameron Kahn and Ricky Lujan hit back-to-back jumpers to put DBU back up what ended up being for good at 9-5.
 
The Patriots pushed the lead to seven following an and-one by Lujan before Pastorcic-Straun drilled his second three to cut it back to 12-8 around the 13-minute mark, but a 10-2 run by the Patriots took their lead to 12 halfway through the period at 22-10. Mines managed to battle back and get the gap down to half a dozen following a three from Juani Dassie at 7:28 to make it 26-20 but again DBU managed to stretch things back to double figures.
 
Trailing by a dozen with 2:19 left, Deng kicked off a 10-0 run to end the period that included three-pointers by Reagan Koch and Adam Krasovec, who flushed one home off a scramble drill coming out a timeout to make it 36-34 after 20 minutes.
 
Coming out in the second half, things remained close as the Orediggers didn't let the Patriots pull away by more than six over the first 2:15 and weather a 6-0 run to stay within striking distance. A coast-to-coast dunk by Sam Beskind following a foul and a three-point play by Koch sandwiched around a single DBU free throw cut it down to a five-point game at 51-46 with 14:15 to go.
 
Unfortunately for Mines, the Patriots went on a 14-2 run from 12:21 to 8:26 and really swung momentum in their favor, leading by 17 at 68-51. Despite the best efforts of the Orediggers, they were never able to close the gap below 11 over the remaining balance of the game despite of the efforts of Deng, Pastorcic-Straun and Beskind, ultimately coming up short as their NCAA Tournament trip ended with by a final score of 86-73.
              
NOTABLES
-Deng tied for a game-high with 20 points, including 12 in the second half, and ended the night on 6-9 from the floor and 2-5 from deep, three rebounds and a block, ending his first season in Golden with 567 points and shot .441 from the floor and .436 from three
-Pastorcic-Straun shined in his NCAA Tournament debut, scoring 15 points off the bench in 16 minutes, going 5-9 from the floor, 2-3 from three and a perfect 3-3 at the line with a steal
-Schroeder added nine points with six rebounds with an assist and a block
-Beskind ended his college career with a stat line he has become know for, scoring eight points with six assists, five rebounds, a block and a steal to post a season stat line of 8.8 PPG, 6.1 RPG, and 4.8 APG
-In two seasons as Mines, Beskind posted 279 career assists, tying his former teammate Brendan Sullivan for eighth all-time while his 159 assists recorded this season are the third-most in a season in program history; for his career, he also scored 588 points, with 337 rebounds 73 steals and 22 blocks
-Koch also added eight off the bench with five rebounds
-Romack had five points, six boards, two blocks and a steal in his NCAA debut
-For the game Mines shot 42.4% from the field and 33.3% from three while going 15-17 at the line
-Head Coach Pryor Orser ends his 23rd season with a career record of 445-227 and 317-155 in RMAC play and stands as the winningest coach in the history of the league in terms of overall wins and conference wins
-The Orediggers have now posted 20 or more eight times in the last 10 seasons and 24 or more in five of those 10
 
UP NEXT
The offseason awaits the Orediggers. Fans can keep up with postseason honors and meet the new signing class at minesathletics.com and on social media.

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.