GOLDEN, Colo. – Taking the court at Lockridge Arena for the first time in the new season Friday night, the Colorado School of Mines men's basketball team put together their best performance in front of their home faithful and celebrated last year's championship run in style with an 85-56 win over UT Dallas. Five players finished in double digits for the Orediggers (1-5) led by Kellon Johnson for the second game in a row while Alex Romack posted another double-double and spearheaded a defensive effort that suffocated the Comets (0-3) all night long on the way to a 29-point win.
 
Johnson kicked things off by scoring the first four off the opening tip and a steal and putting seven of the first nine on the board as Mines led 9-7 at the first timeout of the night at 15:58. After Matthew Soto's layup tied things momentarily, Johnson kept up his hot start with a layup off an Alex Romack steal before burying a trey off a second steal by Romack to make it 14-9 three minutes later. A 7-0 UTD run saw them take their first lead off a layup from Hudson Goellner at 10:05 before Markus Pastorcic-Straun scored the next six as part of an 9-0 run that also featured a Trent Minter dunk to retake the lead 23-16 with 7:42 in the half.
 
A singular Everett Bates free throw momentarily broke things up before the run increased to 14-1 and saw the lead swell to 28-17 with just over five minutes to play in the half following a steal and score by Johnson. The Comets battled back to within three behind Goellner, Jacob Smithey and Peyton Dulin after his dunk made it 28-25 inside 2:30 on the clock. Braydon Jacob buried a three ball on the next possession to kick off a 9-2 to end the period that saw Romack score the final six points for the Orediggers to push the lead back to 10 at 37-27 after 20 minutes.
 
Mines kept their foot on the gas in the second half, showing no signs of letting up. The last time the lead dropped below 10 in the game was on a layup from Smithey at 17:46 that made it 39-31. A layup from Pastorcic-Straun and another trey by Johnson quickly remedied that situation and made it a 13-point game as the lead only grew from there. An 8-0 burst capped by a Johnson layup from Will Cordonnier made it a 20-point game for the first time at 54-34 with 14:03 remaining. Consecutive three-pointers from Cooper Mroczek and Cordonnier fueled a 10-0 run that made it 64-38 before another three from Mroczek saw the lead move to 27 for the first time moments later. A 10-2 run by UT Dallas in the final five minutes saw the lead briefly dwindle below 20 at 75-56 before the Orediggers scored the final 10 points of the night with Derek Lamb capping off the scoring on an 85-56 win.
 
NOTABLES
-Johnson headlined five in double figures for Mines and led all scorers by scoring 19 points for the second consecutive game and finishing 8-14 from the floor with six rebounds, three steals and three assists in his home debut
-Pastorcic-Straun bounced back to end with 18 points behind 5-9 from the floor and 8-10 from the stripe with four rebounds and four assists
-Romack posted his fourth double-double of the season, this time going for a season-high 18 points on 4-7 from the floor and 10-12 at the line with 10 rebounds, three assists blocks and three steals
-Mroczek shined in his home debut as well, just missing a double-double with 10 points and eight rebounds on 4-8 shooting including 2-4 from deep
-Jacob found his shooting stroke in his first home action as well, adding 10 off the bench on 3-6 shooting all from long range
-Cordonnier added five rebounds and four assists
-As a team, the Orediggers recorded a season-high 20 assists on 28 made field goals
-Mines recorded nine blocks, the most in a game since March 8, 2024 against Fort Lewis and tied their season high with nine steals
-The Orediggers shot .475 (28-59) from the floor on the night including .552 (16-29) in the second half while also going 20-27 from the free throw line; comparatively UT Dallas shot .300 (18-60) from the floor and just .208 (5-24) from downtown
-Nine different players scored in the game for Mines, while seven recorded at least one blocked shot
-Prior to tipoff, Mines celebrated their 2025 RMAC Championships with a ring presentation that included all returners from last year's team along with alumni Cade Mankle, Grant Pressly, Reagan Koch, Riley Schroeder and Juani Dassie
 
UP NEXT
Mines hosts UT Tyler Saturday at 3 p.m. to close opening weekend at home.

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.