GOLDEN, Colo. – The Colorado School of Mines men's basketball team delivered a weekend sweep to start Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference action Saturday as they went down to the wire to earn an 81-80 win over New Mexico Highlands. As the Orediggers (4-6, 2-0) and Cowboys (1-8, 1-1), traded blows and lead from start to finish in an extremely physical matchup the 13th and final lead change of the day with three second left on a driving layup from Markus Pastorcic-Straun proved to be the difference on the way to the win.
 
Nikk Williams scored first for NMHU followed by a Shelton Henton three-pointer on the next possession before a Jonathan Moore dunk made it 5-2 Mines. The Cowboys' Dontae Walker scored the next four and kicked off the first of four lead changes on the next four possessions capped by a Pastorcic-Straun three-pointer that made it 10-8 at 15:53. The action remained close with the separation never exceeding four points before the lead changed hands again on a layup from Ibrahima Sacko at 12:31 that made it 16-14. New Mexico Highlands stretched the lead out to five at 21-16 following a three from Caileb Parham with just over nine minutes to play. A 7-2 run by the Orediggers led by Henton saw them briefly retake a 23-22 lead before NMHU scored the next five to regain the advantage and to a 27-23 lead at 5:29.
 
Cooper Mroczek's layup at 3:04 once again briefly saw Mines go on top 30-29 before Wesley Isoje score the next four for the Cowboys to take a three-point lead. The opening frame ended on a 7-2 Mines run as Henton and Pastorcic-Straun each went 2-2 from the stripe in the final 1:49 to make it a one-point game. Jonathan Moore's three-pointer with 31 seconds left in the half went unanswered the other way by Marcus Pierce as the Orediggers carried a 37-35 lead into the intermission.
 
New Mexico Highlands quickly tied things back up on three occasions in the first five minutes as play resumed in the second half. After Williams tied things at 45, Alex Romack and Cooper Mroczek scored the next four points for Mines to make it a four-point lead. A three-pointer from Braydon Jacob was answered with a three from Ramish Adedigba before Pastorcic-Straun scored a layup and a three to make it a seven-point lead with 11:37 to play, the largest lead of the day for either side to that point. NMHU came back to within three on the next two possessions and never let the Orediggers pull away by more than six for the next five minutes. Walker and Pierce closed the gap back to a bucket before BJ Comer tied things at 64 with 6:34 to go. Henton answered with a trey the other way followed by two free throws from Pastorcic-Straun to push it back to a two-possession game.
 
Emotion ran high down the stretch as both teams battled for the advantage. Following a three-point play from Pastorcic-Straun at 4:31 that made it 72-66, Cowboys head coach Zach Settembre was assessed a technical foul by the officials. Two more free throws were awarded to Mines as Henton went to the line and converted both to make it an eight-point lead. NMHU was quick to rally behind their coach, going on a 9-0 run from 4:20 to 1:45 to take the lead 78-74. The Orediggers answered with another Henton three-ball to stay within one with 84 seconds left. After Robert Dix scored on a layup, Pastoric-Straun went coast-to-coast for a dunk to make it a one-point game at 80-79. The Mines defense clamped down on the next NMHU possession, forcing a shot clock violation and a turnover with 11 seconds in regulation as Romack and Moore contested a look from Williams that failed to hit iron. Inbounding from the baseline and needed to go 94 feet to regain the lead, everyone in the building knew which Oredigger would take the final shot. After Mines used their final timeout, Moore inbounded to Pastorcic-Straun who brought up the ball on the far side before driving and spinning to the rim against Parham who had help from Williams defensively, but it was advantage Mines as a looping layup from the junior swished home to retake the lead. After drawing a foul on the play that sent Parham to the bench with his fifth foul, Pastorcic-Straun missed the free throw attempt setting up NMHU with a chance to answer, but a half-court heave by Williams was not to be as the Orediggers held on for the 81-80 win.
 
NOTABLES
-Pastorcic-Straun led five in double figures and once again led the way with a game-high 27 points thanks to 9-13 shooting including 2-3 from deep and 7-9 from the line with four assists and two rebounds
-Henton ran his double figure scoring streak to four straight games and tied his season high of 18 on 5-10 shooting including 3-5 from three and 5-6 at the line while also adding three steals, two rebounds, two assists and a block
-Romack added 12 with six rebounds on 6-8 shooting as he battled foul trouble to record his ninth double-figure outing of the season
-Moore ended the night with 11 on 3-6 shooting with four rebounds and has now scored in double figures in each game he's played this season
-Cooper Mroczek tied his season high of 10 points off the bench as he went 5-7 from the line and 2-6 from the field with a three-pointer while also adding four boards
-Mines recorded six blocks in the game, making it three games in a row with at least five rejections
-For the game, the Orediggers shot 26-51 (.510) for their best shooting percentage of the season and also went 21-26 (.808) from the line for their fourth game with 20 or makes from the stripe this season
-Mines also added eight steals defensively and forced a season-high 16 turnovers by NMHU
-The Orediggers are now 50-33 all-time in the series and have won seven in a row against the Cowboys
 
UP NEXT
Mines hits the road for more RMAC play next weekend, first heading to Westminster Thursday December 11 at 7 p.m. followed by a trip to Colorado Mesa Saturday December 13 at 3 p.m.

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.