GOLDEN, Colo. – Coming off the heels of their first win of the season Friday night, the Colorado School of Mines men's basketball team looked to make it two in a row Saturday evening at Lockridge Arena against UT Tyler. Unfortunately for the Orediggers (1-6), a slow start to the night offensively proved too much to overcome and while they did stage a late surge in the second half, were unable to complete the comeback against the Patriots (2-0) falling a final of 87-79.
 
UT Tyler score the first four of the night before Markus Pastorcic-Straun and Kellon Johnson poured in the next seven to give Mines their first lead of the night at 7-4. The lead was short-lived unfortunately as back-to-back three-pointers by Jacob Bell and Noah Suarjaya flipped the lead back to the Patriots for the rest of the night. The Orediggers kept it close, trailing by no more than three possessions as the half went on until Bell scored five straight for the Patriots to make it 26-15 with 8:56 to play. The gap stretched to 13 at 38-25 with just over three minutes in the half as UTT kept a comfortable margin behind a 56% shooting performance in the half with six three-pointers. The Orediggers scored five of the final seven points heading to the break to make it a 42-32 game after 20 minutes.
 
Looking to shrug off a 12-32 start to the night shooting, Mines came out with increased defensive pressure in the second half, forcing a pair of turnovers and scoring a quick four points at the line thanks to Pastorcic-Straun to close the gap to 42-36. Trent Minter's first career three-pointer helped keep the gap under 10, but UT Tyler continued to work their offense and eventually push the lead back to 13 at 56-43 following a dunk by Sam Phipps. As the clock wound under 10 minutes, a putback by Cooper Mroczek brought it back to 60-53 before a 9-2 run fueled by seven points from Johnson made it a five-point game at 67-62 at the 7:02 mark. Just as quickly as Mines trimmed the lead, UTT pushed it back out to 11 at 73-62 with five minutes to play. Shelton Henton's three ball at 4:19 made it 74-67 and kicked off a frenzied final four minutes of action. Pastorcic-Straun scored seven of the next nine along with Alex Romack to made it a six-point game in the final minute at 82-76, but the Patriots weathered that late storm and wrapped things up from the free throw line to close the action with an 87-79 result.
 
NOTABLES
-Pastorcic-Straun led all scorers with 27 points on 8-11 shooting including 3-4 from three and 8-9 from the stripe
-Johnson continued his strong play with his third consecutive double figure outing, ending with 11 on 5-9 shooting
-Henton had his best performance of the season, scoring 11 on 4-9 from the floor with a pair of three-pointers and three assists
-Mroczek chipped in nine and was a perfect 4-4 from the stripe with five rebounds and three assists
-Minter finished with seven on 3-6 shooting with three boards, two steals and a block
-Essman added five points and four rebounds off the bench in seven minutes
-Nine different players scored in the game for Mines
 
UP NEXT
The Orediggers are back on the road Tuesday at 6 p.m. in Colorado Springs against Colorado College in their penultimate non-conference game of the season.

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.