LUBBOCK, Texas – Returning to the road Friday night for regional crossover action, the #10 Colorado School of Mines men's basketball team dropped an early-season test in a matchup of ranked teams against #24 Lubbock Christian 63-58. Despite holding the Chaps (3-0) without a field goal for the final 4:12 of the second half and getting another monster performance from Markus Pastorcic-Straun, the Orediggers (0-4) came up short in their comeback bid in a clash of preseason Top 25 clubs.
 
Mines scored first and led for the opening 6:15 behind the efforts of Markus Pastorcic-Staun and Alex Romack. A 6-0 start to the night was bolstered along the way by Will Essman before LCU erased the lead behind Antonio Pusateri. Alex Anamekwe provided the first lead change of the night with two free throws to make it 14-12 at the 13:39 mark as part of a 9-0 Lubbock Christian run before a trey from Pastorcic-Straun broke things up and kept it a four-point game at 19-15. The separation hovered between five and eight for the next six minutes before a three-pointer from Cooper Mroczek and a layup from Trent Minter cut it to 25-23 with 5:24 in the half. A 10-3 run by the Chaps heading to the break saw them build their lead back to nine at 35-26 after 20 minutes of action.
 
A sluggish start to the second half coupled with a series of early turnovers saw the deficit swell the 15 at 50-35 with just over 13 minutes to play. A four-plus minute scoreless drought was broken up at 11:42 with the second trey of the night from Mroczek as the Orediggers looked to battle back into contention. The lead for Lubbock Christian moved back to 14 with just over 10 minutes to play at 52-38 before their shooting went cold and Mines clamped down on defense. As time wound inside four minutes to play, Pastorcic-Straun went on a one-man 11-0 run to get within a point at 58-57 with 69 seconds left, but four late free throws from Kendall Dow and Amondo Miller Jr. enabled LCU to escape the night with a five-point win.  
 
NOTABLES
-Pastorcic-Straun dropped his second 30-point outing of the season, ending with an even 30 on 10-21 shooting including a career-high five three-pointers
-Romack recorded his third consecutive double-double, finishing with 13 points and 11 rebounds
-Mroczek scored a season-high eight off the bench on 3-7 shooting including a pair of three-pointers with three rebounds
-Mines struggled as a team from the three-point line, going just 7-23 (30.4%) for the game while adding three steals
 
UP NEXT
Mines closes their season-opening five-game road trip Sunday at 12 p.m. CT at #RV St. Mary's (TX) in San Antonio.

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.