GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – Back at Brownson Arena for the second time this season, the #21/RV Colorado School of Mines was back in action against #6/8 Fort Lewis for the second time in a span of seven days Friday night in the semifinals of the 2024 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Championship in a rematch of the title game from last year's event. Despite jumping out to an early lead spanning close to 14 minutes of game action, the Orediggers (24-8) couldn't shake the turnover bug and despite outshooting the Skyhawks (27-3) both from the floor and from long range, fell short of their goal of making to Saturday's title game by a final score of 87-73.
 
The Orediggers got the night going in similar fashion to last Saturday, scoring the first six points of the night on a corner three followed by a traditional three-point play from Majok Deng to take the first lead of the evening. Obi Agbim answered right back for FLC with a trey of his own the next possession, but two more three balls from Riley Schroeder and Deng opened up a nine-point lead for Mines at 12-3 in the first three minutes.
 
A quick 6-2 run by Fort Lewis closed it to a 14-9 lead but two more three-pointers from Reagan Koch and Sam Beskind sandwiched around a lone free throw by Amondo Miller Jr. saw the Mines lead hit double figures at 20-10 with 14:08 in the half. Taking advantage of the fouls in their favor over the opening 20, the Skyhawks started trimming away at the lead at the free throw line to again close within six before a 20-seconds sequence saw three-straight makes combined from the team as Markus Pastorcic-Straun and Adam Krasovec got into the scorebooks before a three from Miller Jr. hit a second-chance three to make it 24-19 at 11:24.
 
Mines managed to maintain their lead until there was under six minutes in the half as a three from Agbim cut it to a one-point game at 31-30 before Sekou Dembele hit a pair at the line to take the lead 32-31. The lead changed hands on each of the next two possessions before a 10-2 run from the Skyhawks opened up their lead to 44-35 with 2:02 before the break. Sam Beskind and Pastorcic-Straun each scored in the final 94 seconds but so did Brayden Carter as the second-seeded Skyhawks took a 47-39 lead into the locker room, ending the period on a 21-8 run over the final 6:29.
 
Right out the chute in the second half, Agbim hit a three to make it an 11-point lead for FLC, but Mines came back with a three-point barrage of their own as their first five makes of the period all came from downtown courtesy of Deng, Schroeder, Koch and Mankle to trim a 13-point lead back to four at 58-54 with 15 minutes to play.
 
A 10-0 run by Fort Lewis allowed them to open their lead back up to as large as it had been all night at 14 over the course of the next three minutes before Pastorcic-Straun got it back to a 10-point game by scoring the next four for the Orediggers to make it 68-58.
 
Try as they might and despite the efforts of Deng, Schroeder and the freshman from Ontario, Mines couldn't keep pace with the second-seeded team in the tournament, as Fort Lewis gradually pulled away and built a lead that was as high as 16 that never dropped below 12 for the final seven minutes of the night. Five of the final seven points of the night for the Orediggers came at the free throw line as Alex Romack closed out the scoring but the outcome had already been decided as Mines' RMAC Tournament run in 2024 came to a close in the semifinals by a result of 87-73.
              
NOTABLES
-Deng led the way for Mines with 20 points on 6-10 shooting that included 3-4 from deep and 5-6 at the line with two rebounded and two assists
-Schroeder added 14 of his own on 4-8 shooting with all four of his field goals coming from beyond the arc to go with two rebounds, two assists and two blocks
-Pastorcic-Straun added 12 off the bench on 5-8 shooting with two assists, a rebound and a steal
-Koch came off the bench to score eight on 3-5 shooting and went 2-4 from long range with five boards, one away from his season best mark
-Beskind was one of many players battling foul trouble in the game but still ended with seven points, four assists, two boards and a steal
-Turnovers hindered Mines in the game, as they coughed it up 18 times resulting in 23 points for FLC
-Fort Lewis scored 22 of their 87 points from the free throw line in the game as Mines was whistled for 20 fouls on the evening, their fourth-highest total in a game this season
-The Orediggers outshot the Skyhawks on the night from the floor 45.1% (23-51) to 40.8% (29-71) and from three-point range 44% (11-25) to 33.3% (7-21), but were outscored 42-18 in points in the paint and 45-22 in bench points
 
UP NEXT
Mines will tune in Sunday night at 9 p.m. MT to the 2024 NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Championship Selection Show to see where they'll be headed for their next stop on their postseason ride. With two of the top four teams in the South Central Region in West Texas A&M and Dallas Baptist losing in their conference quarterfinals Friday night, there's sure to be some potential shakeup in who ends up where and which team will host the opening round next weekend.

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.