GOLDEN, Colo. – Looking to extend their lead in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference standings Thursday night, the #7/6 Colorado School of Mines men's basketball team was back at Lockridge Arena for a Top 25 clash against #13/11 MSU Denver. Despite trailing by five at the half, the Orediggers (15-2, 9-0) rallied behind a 52% shooting performance over the final 20 minutes to outlast the Roadrunners (14-4, 8-2) 70-66 in an instant classic.
 
Riley Schroeder kicked the night off with a three-pointer on the fourth possession of the game before Brayden Carter and Quave Allison-Propst each scored on a layup to give MSU Denver their first lead of the night three minutes in. Markus Pastorcic-Straun scored the next four to retake the lead 7-4 as the Orediggers led for nearly the next three minutes. An 8-2 run by the Roadrunners made it 12-9 as consecutive buckets by Caleb McGill flipped the lead for a third time.
 
Coming out of the under 12-minute media timeout, Majok Deng knocked down a three from Grant Pressly to level the score at 12 briefly before Sufyan Elkannan hit a three of his own the other way in front of the Mines bench. A traditional three-point by Jonathan Moore on a tip-in layup tied the score again at 15 at 10:47, and following a sequence of turnovers and steals by both teams MSUD regained the edge 19-15 following a McGill dunk at 7:09.
 
Juani Dassie kept it close with a straightaway three-pointer before Reagan Koch flushed home one of his own from deep to take a 21-19 lead. A Carter jumper and a Logan Threatt free throw made it 22-21 in favor of the visitors, but another Mines three from Moore saw the lead change hands again with 4:30 before the break.
 
KJ Garrett tied it at 24 57 seconds later before Carter hit a mid-range jumper to put the Roadrunners back ahead 26-24. The lead changed hands twice more before the break with MSUD retaking it for the final time in the opening period on a Ryan Maslow three with 1:20 left that made it 32-29. A couple of Cade Mankle free throws made it a one-point game before Propst-Allison scored the final four points to give MSU Denver a 36-31 lead through 20 minutes.
 
The Roadrunners stretched the lead to eight coming out to resume play at 39-31, but a 9-0 run by the Orediggers featuring Markus Pastorcic-Straun, Adam Krasovec, Deng and Schroeder saw them storm back to take a 40-39 lead. A tip-in by Carter of a Jamil Safieddine miss flipped the score again before Deng and Pressly teamed up for another trey for the 12th change of the night with 15:36 to play. Pressly picked the pocket of Safieddine the next possession and found a streaking Pastorcic-Straun, who brought the 746 fans in attendance to their feet with a dramatic two-handed slam to make it 45-41 and force a Roadrunners timeout.
 
The score remained close as Mines never managed to pull away by more than four points over the next couple of minutes. Deng brought the crowd to their feet again at 10:39 as he slammed home an offensive rebound off a missed layup by Pastorcic-Straun to make it 51-47. Back-to-back three balls from Koch and Deng gave the Orediggers their biggest lead of the night at 59-51 with just over eight minutes remaining.
 
The Roadrunners closed back within one following a 1-2 trip to the stripe by Carter with 5:49 left that made it 59-58 as the third of three players for MSUD to go 1-2 at the line over a two-minute stretch. That inability to convert both free throws continued as two more trips by McGill and Carter continued to allow Mines to remain ahead heading down the stretch.
 
A couple of misses from the stripe by the Orediggers left the door open in the final three minutes. After Deng and Cade Mankle both went 1-2 to make it 63-60, Saffiedine atoned for his earlier turnovers to drill a three and level the score with 1:35 remaining. On the next possession for Mines, Schroeder managed to draw a foul by Carter, his fifth of the game which ended his night with 85 seconds remaining. The fifth-year man out of Orange, California converted both his freebies to make it a 65-63 game, but again Saffiedine came up with a three as the visitors now led 66-65 with 1:16 to play.
 
Coming out of a timeout, Pastorcic-Straun hauled in his biggest rebound of the night off a missed three-pointer from Krasovec, dishing to Schroeder to a layup as the lead changed hands for the 14th and final time in the game at 67-66. Mankle picked the pocked of Garrett to set up two free throws for Deng who hit both to make it a three-point lead at 69-66. After regaining possession following an air balled three-point attempt by McGill, Pastorcic-Straun iced the outcome with one last free throw as a desperation heave by Garrett missed its mark and drew no foul as the horn sounded on a 70-66 winner.
 
NOTABLES
-Deng finished tied for the game high in scoring with 19 points on 6-12 shooting, going 3-8 from three and 4-5 at the line with six rebounds and a career-high four steals; he is now just four points shy of 900 in his collegiate career between Pepperdine and Mines
-Pastorcic-Straun went for double figures off the bench for the fourth consecutive game, ending the night with 15 on 5-11 shooting and going 5-6 from the stripe with four rebounds and two blocks
-Schroeder finished with nine on 3-7 from the floor, five rebounds, three assists and two blocks of his own
-Moore added seven on 2-5 shooting and went 2-3 at the line with three rebounds, two blocks and a steal
-Koch chipped in six on a pair of three-pointers along with two rebounds and two assists, going over 400 in his career
-Pressly finished with four assists, three rebounds and two steals
-Dassie snapped a four-game drought at the three-point line with a first half bucket
-Krasovec recorded the 350th and 351st rebounds of his career in the win
-Five players recorded a block while five recorded a steal with Mankle and Romack tallying one of each
-Nine different players scored in the winning effort
-The seven blocks by Mines ties a season-high while the 10 steals are the eight double figure steal game of the season
-Three-point defense was once again a big part of the result, as the Orediggers held the Roadrunners to 29.4% (5-17) from long range, the fourth straight game Mines has held the opposing side to under 30% from three
-Mines has now won 12 in a row in the series and improves to 50-36 overall and 29-17 at home
 
UP NEXT
The Orediggers hit the road Saturday for a 3 p.m. contest at Regis.

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.