GOLDEN, Colo. – It was a wild and crazy night Thursday at Lockridge Arena as the #12/13 Colorado School of Mines men's basketball team returned home to face Fort Lewis looking to get back in the win column. In a game which saw a combined 39 turnovers and five technical fouls assessed between the two teams, in the end it was the Orediggers (16-3, 10-1) who came out on top, erasing a seven-point halftime deficit behind a blistering shooting performance over the final frame to defeat the Skyhawks (13-7, 7-4) by a final of 82-79.
 
The fourth possession of the night saw Riley Schroeder open the scoring followed by a Cassius Carmichael tip-in on the other end that was the front end of an early 7-0 Fort Lewis run to take the lead in the opening five minutes. A three-pointer from Florence Keither made it 10-4 at 15:11 before Adam Krasovec found Caleb Clark for a corner trey to keep to close.
 
The Skyhawks maintained their lead for the better part of the next five minutes until Alex Romack kicked off a 6-0 run at 11:42 that ended with a layup by Markus Pastorcic-Straun to retake the lead 17-16. The Mines lead moved to four at 21-17 after a pair of layups from Jonathan Moore and Pastorcic-Straun before FLC scored a quick four to level the score. Two Moore free throws were followed by back-to-back layups from Keither as the visitors retook the lead 25-23. Clark buried a three from the near corner to flip the score by Stewart Erhart's three on the other end flipped it right back to make it 28-26.
 
Fort Lewis' lead peaked at seven inside the final minute of the half as another tip-in by Carmichael and a steal-and-score by Erhart made it a 38-31 game after 20 minutes.
 
A 16-2 run to open the second half saw the margin swing back the other way as Mines took a seven-point lead at 47-40 less than six minutes into the period. Schroeder and Erhart traded buckers before Deng buried a pair of three-pointers with a layup from Romack sandwiched in between. Pastorcic-Straun got in on the action as well as Juani Dassie who brought the crowd to their feet with his second three-pointer of 2025. Two Moore free throws capped things off following a technical foul assessed to Fort Lewis head coach Jordan Mast.
 
The Orediggers then led for the next three-plus minutes until Erhart and Biko Johnson tied things at 52 with 11:21 to play as part of 9-2 run that included two technical free throws for the Skyhawks after the third of the night was assessed to the Mines bench. A tip-in by Romack and a Deng jumper off a Schroeder steal made it a four-point game, before another tech was issued to Grant Pressly for taunting, resulting two more free throws for the Skyhawks. After Johnson retook the lead on a wing three-pointer, he too was slapped with a technical for flopping, the fourth such foul assessed in a five and a half minute stretch.
 
Deng's free throw on the Class B assessment tied things at 57 before a dunk by Keither put FLC back on top. Deng responded on the other end with a three-pointer to flip to score again and converted the four-point play at the line while FLC fans cried for a flop like the one called moments earlier.
 
Things remained tight as the score changed hands three-times under 40 seconds inside the six-minute mark with a Malachi Coleman three-pointer putting Fort Lewis back on top 71-70 as the dust settled. Romack retook the lead with a layup at 3:41 from Cade Mankle in what ended up being the 12th and final lead change of the contest. The sophomore from Indiana came up with a steal, drew a foul and converted twice at the line moments later to make it a three-point game at 74-71.
 
The tension down the stretch could be cut with a knife as both teams battled hard to the end. Two Erhart free throws made it 76-74 with 2:16 left and after a pair of layups from Florence and Tru Allen, it was just a one-point game at 80-79 with 40 seconds left. Mines called a timeout with the ball and 19 seconds left, but were unable to avoid a shot clock violation with 11 seconds left.
 
Down one with the ball, Fort Lewis had a chance to win it but the Orediggers' defense dug their heels in as a layup by Allen missed along with the putback attempt by Carmichael before Schroeder hauled down the rebound and drew the foul with 1.6 seconds left. He converted both his tried at the line as on the ensuing inbounds pass, Chuol Deng's last gasp three-pointer sailed harmlessly short as the horn sounded on an 82-79 win.
 
NOTABLES
-Deng led all scorers with 19 points on 6-9 shooting including 3-5 from three and was a perfect 4-4 at the stripe; he also added three rebounds and three steals
-Pastorcic-Straun finished in double figures for the sixth straight game, going for 14 on 4-10 shooting and was 6-8 at the line with two assists, a block, a steal and a rebound; the steal was the 50th of his Mines career
-Romack returned to the starting rotation and went for 12 on 5-6 shooting with five rebounds and a career-best three steals and now has 304 career boards
-Schroeder added 11 and just missed a double-double with nine rebounds and added four assists and two steals
-Moore was perfect shooting in the game on his way to nine points, going 2-2 from the floor and 5-5 at the line
-Clark recorded his best game of the new year, hitting a pair of three-pointers in the opening half to finish with six points
-10 different players scored in the winning effort for the Orediggers
-Mines shot a blistering 80.6% in the second half on 17-21 shooting and shot 83.3% (5-6) from three and 80% (12-15) from the line over the final 20 minutes
-The Orediggers finished with a +9 advantage on the glass at 34-25 with 11 offensive boards
-Over the course of 40 minutes, there were eight ties and 12 lead changes
 
UP NEXT
The Orediggers take the court Saturday at Lockridge Arena at 3 p.m. against Adams State.

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.