GOLDEN, Colo. – Looking to make it a perfect 5-0 at home over the last three weeks, the #12/13 Colorado School of Mines men's basketball team took the court Saturday at Lockridge Arena for the second meeting of the season against Adams State, looking to put on a show for the program's alumni in attendance for the afternoon. Behind a quintet of double figure performances, the Orediggers (17-3, 11-1) did just that in a fast-paced, high-flying game as another strong shooting performance highlighted a wire-to-wire win over the Grizzlies (8-12, 3-9) 97-84.
 
With the RMAC's two top scoring offenses colliding, points were sure to come early and often as Mines raced out to an early 8-3 lead. Alex Romack started the day with an exclamation point, throwing home a two-hand jam from Cade Mankle before Majok Deng and Grant Pressly followed with their first makes of the game.
 
After the hot start by the Orediggers, the Grizzlies clawed back to within three on two occasions thanks to Jude Tapia and Ta'Veus Randle, the latter of whom made it 13-10 with 13:43 in the half, but Mines quickly pushed the gap back to seven thanks to Jonathan Moore and Markus Pastorcic-Straun off the bench. Another dunk by Romack followed by a Reagan Koch three-pointer made it a double-digit lead for the first time at 26-15 at the 9:35 mark. A three-point play from Luke Williams briefly cut the gap down to eight at 26-18, but a 7-0 burst from Riley Schroeder, Koch and Moore pushed the advantage back to double figures for good at 15 with 6:24 left at 33-18.
 
The Orediggers blew things open with a 13-2 run that made it a 23-point game at 49-26 with 3:27 before the break. Moore chipped in a straightaway three and Pastorcic-Straun provided some fireworks with a breakaway dunk off a steal from Adam Krasovec as Deng and Koch chipped in as well. Adams State did finish the period strong, holding Mines scoreless over the final three minutes and scoring the last seven points before the break to make it 50-35 through 20 minutes.
 
Coming out of the intermission, ASU looked to Jude Tapia to try and lead them back into contention. The Grizzlies' leading scorer, who picked up two early fouls which limited his early involvement, scored four of the first seven for the visitors in the second half to close within a dozen at 54-42, but no further as a 6-0 burst by Cade Mankle and Schroeder pushed the lead back to 18.
 
The lead never dipped below a dozen for the remainder of the action as Adams State closed to down to 66-54 at 13:46 and 82-70 at 6:28, but each time Mines responded and maintained a comfortable margin. Two free throws from Schroeder hit the 90-point mark with 3:33 left while another thunderous dunk from Romack inside two minutes ended the day with another exclamation point. Both sides emptied their benches to play out the final minutes and though ASU scored the final five points of the day, it did little but make a dent in the margin of victory as the Orediggers swept the weekend at home with a 97-84 win.
 
NOTABLES
-Deng's 33 points were a season high and came on 9-14 shooting from the floor including 4-7 from three along with a perfect 11-11 at the free throw line; he also recorded five rebounds and two steals on his way to his third 30-point performance at Mines
-Pastorcic-Straun ran his double figure scoring streak to seven games with another 14-point outing on 5-11 shooting with five rebounds; it is the third time he has finished with 14 points during his current streak
-Schroeder finished with 13 points for the second time in the last three games and third time in the last six as he went 5-9 from the floor with three rebounds, three assists and two steals
-Koch added 12 off the bench on 4-5 shooting including 2-3 from deep with five rebounds of his own along with two dimes and two steals; he finished one point off his season high and has gone for double figures in two of the last three games
-Romack made his second straight start and ended the afternoon with a double-double of 10 points and a season-high 11 boards, his first double stack of the season and seventh of his career with the last coming in the RMAC tournament quarterfinals last March against Regis
-Moore just missed double figures with nine points and was perfect once again shooting, going 3-3 with two dimes and a block in 11 minutes off the bench
-Pressly dished out six assists and hauled down four rebounds to go with a block and a steal while scoring once in the first half
-Mines shot better than 50% in both halves, including 60% (18-30) in the second half on their way to a 55.9% (33-59) afternoon and tied their season high in free throws made, going 23-25 for the game
-The Orediggers tallied 10 steals off 12 ASU turnovers, netting 26 points off those
 
UP NEXT
Mines heads west next weekend as they return to the road against Western Colorado Thursday and Westminster for the second of two meetings with the Griffins this season Saturday.

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.