COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Back on the road Tuesday night for their lone action of the week, the Colorado School of Mines men's basketball team put on their best performance of the season to pick up their first road win of the season over Colorado College 105-72. All five starters for the Orediggers (2-6) finished in double digits led by Shelton Henton while the junior duo of Alex Romack and Markus Pastorcic-Straun each finished with a double-double in the win over the Tigers (2-3).
 
The Orediggers scored first and never looked back as Jonathan Moore returned to the lineup by scoring six of the six eight points to take an 8-2 advantage just over two minutes in. A 12-4 run capped by a Shelton Henton three-ball made it 20-6 Mines just with 14:31 to play. Colorado College, who was playing Tuesday's game as an exhibition, did manage to string together a 6-0 run of their own to get back within eight following a TJ Satcher layup at 11:52 that made it 20-12 and kept within eight to 10 points for the next several minutes. A three-point play by Christian Drummond saw the Tigers back within eight at 31-23 with 7:35 in the half before a quick 7-0 burst fueled by Moore, Henton and Kellon Johnson saw the lead move to 15. An Alex Romack dunk from Cooper Mroczek highlighted a 19-7 run over the final 4:43 to end the opening frame as Mines continued their balanced attack, as they shot 3-5 from three and 8-10 from the line over the final stanza to carry a 59-32 advantage into the intermission.
 
Coming out of the break, a three-pointer by Johnson made it a 30-point game for the first time and Mines scored seven of the first nine to open the second half highlighted by an alley-oop jam by Moore from Johnson to make it 66-33. The Orediggers kept their foot on the gas as the night went on, playing some of their best and cleanest basketball of the season and exorcising some demons from early season results along the way. The freshman trio of Mroczek, Henton and Trent Minter scored on three straight possessions to make it 81-42 at the under-12 media timeout before CC managed to stitch together a 12-5 run to close back to within 32 at 86-54 with just over nine minutes to play. Mines answered by going on a 13-3 run that featured a pair of three-pointers from Matija Jordovic that made it a 40-point game for the first time at 99-57 at the 5:37 mark. Pastorcic-Straun broke the century mark with a layup with 4:15 to play before checking out from his big night as the reserves played out the final minutes. Derek Lamb and Jordovic closed out the scoring from Mines as while the Tigers scored eight of the final 12 points in the game, it barely made a dent in the final margin with the Orediggers claiming their first road win 105-72.
 
NOTABLES
-Henton made his first career start Tuesday night and shined, scoring a game-high 18 points behind 6-10 shooting with five three-pointers along with four rebounds, two steals and two assists
-Johnson ran his double-digit scoring streak to four games as he went for 17 points on 6-8 shooting including 3-4 from deep with three assists, two rebounds, a block and a steal
-Pastorcic-Straun recorded the first double-double of his career, going for 15 points with 11 boards in addition to five dimes while shooting 7-12 from the floor
-Romack turned in his fifth double-double to start the season with 15 points and 10 boards along with four assists and a career-best four blocks while going 5-8 from the floor and 5-7 from the stripe
-Moore made his first appearance since opening day after suffering a lower body injury and ended the evening with 12 points in 22 minutes, going 4-9 from the floor and 3-3 at the line with eight rebounds and four assists
-Mroczek continued his strong play of late with nine points on 2-4 shooting along with going 4-4 from the free throw line with three boards and two assists
-Jordovic chipped in eight off the bench with the first two three-pointers of his collegiate career and a pair of late free throws along with two rebounds and an assist
-As a team, Mines hauled in a season-high 56 rebounds for their first 50 rebound game since November 20, 2023 at home against Williams Baptist
-The Orediggers committed just seven turnovers Tuesday night for their best ball-handling night of the season and dished out a season-high 25 assists on 36 made field goals
-11 of 12 players who checked into the game for Mines scored Tuesday night
 
UP NEXT
A quartet of early-season Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference games await Mines as the calendar turns to December, starting next weekend at Lockridge Arena against Adams State and New Mexico Highlands on December 4 and 6.

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.