SAN ANTONIO, Texas – The Colorado School of Mines men's basketball team closed out their weekend in Texas against regional opponents from the Lone Star Conference with a closely-contested 68-62 loss to St. Mary's (TX) Sunday afternoon at Bill Greehey Arena. Despite getting double figure performances from a quartet of players including true freshman Kellon Johnson and Trent Minter, the Orediggers (0-5) came up short against the Rattlers (2-0) despite another late surge in the closing minutes.
 
Johnson scored the five of the first eight points for Mines to open the scoring as a series of lead changes ensued over the opening five minutes of play. St. Mary's took a 10-9 lead at 15:27 on a Damani Claxton layup and maintained their advantage as the half went on. The Orediggers kept things close as a three-pointer at 10:41 by Will Cordonnier made it 21-18 approaching the midway mark in the opening frame. An 8-0 run from the Rattlers ensued as the gap swelled to 11 with 6:48 in the half before peaking at 12 inside three minutes on a three from Michael Grant. A quick 6-0 push from Mines thanks to Johnson, Trent Minter and Markus Pastorcic-Straun closed the gap back to 35-29 with a minute before the break before a pair of free throws closed the half with St. Mary's up eight.
 
After going down by nine at 42-33 shortly after play resumed in the second half, Mines went on an 11-0 run to reclaim the lead at 44-42 with 11:19 left following another trey from Cordonnier. The Rattlers responded by scoring the next six to reclaim the lead 48-44 following a Claxton dunk, but a three-ball from Johnson and layup from Minter saw the lead changes hands again inside 10 minutes at 49-48. Unfortunately, another 6-0 run from St. Mary's saw them reclaim the lead for good as their second half lead peaked at 62-51 with 4:32 to play. To their credit, Mines battled until the final horn sounded, scoring four times in the final 72 seconds but once again coming up just short in a 68-62 contest.
 
NOTABLES
-Johnson scored a career-high 19 points in his first career start, finishing 7-12 from the floor and 3-7 from three with three rebounds
-Minter broke through for his best scoring game of the season, netting 10 points on 4-7 shooting with five boards and two assists
-Cordonnier turned in his second double figure performance of the young season off the bench, going for 10 on 4-10 shooting with a pair of treys while also pulling down four boards, two steals and dishing two assists
-Romack finished in double figures for the fifth time this season, ending just shy of another double-double with 14 points and eight rebounds, doing almost all of his damage from the free throw line where he went 10-15, setting new career high in attempts while finishing one shy of his career best in makes from the stripe of 11
-Mroczek made his first career start, scoring three points with two rebounds and an assist
-Turnovers in the game were critical as St. Mary's scored 29 points off 20 Mines giveaways
-Free throws were another storyline, as the Orediggers went 16-25 from the stripe
 
UP NEXT
The Orediggers make their Lockridge Arena debut Friday night at 7 p.m. against UT Dallas. Friday will also see Mines celebrate their 2024-25 RMAC Championships with a ring presentation during the night.

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.