GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – The Colorado School of Mines men's basketball team was unable to avoid the weekend sweep Saturday afternoon at Brownson Arena as shooting woes from the floor and free throw line saw them fall 81-73 to Colorado Mesa. After leading early and falling behind late in the first half, the Orediggers (4-8, 0-2) tried to rally from a 20-point deficit in the second half but ran out of time as the Mavericks (5-4, 2-1) withstood the late surge and held on for the win.
 
It was anything but a clean start to the game as while the Orediggers led 7-2 at the first media timeout of the game, the Mines and Colorado Mesa combined to start the game 3-17 shooting with six turnovers in the first four-plus minutes. A pair of free throws by Markus Pastorcic-Straun opened the scoring before a put back layup by Alex Romack made it 4-0. Mason Honeyman for CMU on the board with a layup at 15:22 before Kellon Johnson came back with a three the other way to make it a five-point lead. After Mines briefly pushed their lead to seven at 9-2, the Mavericks came back to within one at 10-9 thanks to the efforts of Honeyman. Jonathan Moore helped regain some separation with a trio of three-pointers and a 2-2 trip to the line as the lead moved to 24-16 inside nine minutes in the half.
 
The final six minutes of the period were dominated by Colorado Mesa, as they ended things on a 17-2 run with the last field goal by the Orediggers coming on a dunk by Alex Romack at 6:21. Clayton Jewell's tip-in bucket tied things at 28 before Ben Henderson took the lead on a layup with 3:40 to play. The Maverick lead swelled to 11 with 78 seconds in the frame following a steal-and-score layup from Jaylen Pitman, but Braydon Jacob broke things up with a pair of late free throws as CMU took a 39-30 lead into the intermission.
 
As play resumed, Colorado Mesa maintained between a comfortable margin before uncorking a 14-0 run spanning close to three minutes as they seemingly broke things open to take a 61-41 lead with 10:11 left in the game. Undeterred, the Orediggers looked to rally but seemingly every time they scored, the Mavericks had an answer the other way. Braydon Jacob and Cooper Mroczek got it going from long range in the final minutes, with Mroczek converting a four-point play with 1:42 left to close back within eight at 76-68, but the deficit proved too much to overcome with the time remaining. Mroczek closed out the scoring with a pair of free throws in the final seconds to get the deficit back to single digits before time expired on an 81-73 win for CMU.
 
NOTABLES
-Romack headlined five in double figures as he recorded his sixth double-double of the season with 16 points and 11 rebounds on 7-12 shooting with three assists
-Pastorcic-Straun overcame early foul trouble to finish with 15, 13 of which came in the final 20 minutes in large part due to 9-12 from the line while also pulling in five boards and dishing out three assists
-Moore ended with 13 thanks to 3-6 from three and 4-6 at the stripe with seven rebounds and two assists
-Mroczek set a new season-high as he ended with day with 12 points behind 6-8 from the line and a pair of three-pointers
-Jacob tied his season high with 10 points behind a 4-4 day from the stripe with a pair of three-pointers while also pulling down five boards and dishing three assists
-Despite being awarded a season-high 38 free throws, Mines converted just 25 for a 65.8% success rate and will look back the 13 points they left on the board in an eight-point decision
-CMU outshot the Orediggers 46.2% to 35.1% on the afternoon
-The Orediggers hauled in 44 rebounds for their sixth game with 40+ rebounds this season
 
UP NEXT
Two more games await the Orediggers to close out 2025 as they'll head to Las Vegas and the South Point Casino for the DII Holiday Hoops Classic against MSU Billings and Rollins on December 20 and 21.

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.