GOLDEN, Colo. – Taking the court at Lockridge Arena on a snowy Saturday afternoon, the #8/10 Colorado School of Mines men's basketball team lined up against Chadron State with plenty to play for in game 24 of the season. The Orediggers (21-3, 15-1) hardly trailed against the Eagles (12-12, 8-8) and outpaced the visitors in an action-packed game in which five players scored in double figures on the way to a 104-77 victory.
 
Dalton Peterson hit a deep three for Chadron State to open the afternoon as the Eagles held the lead for most of the first five minutes of the game. A quick six from Majok Deng tied the score at 11 following a three-pointer at 15:33 and after Jalen Thomas briefly regained the edge for CSC, Cade Mankle took the lead by scoring the next four to open a 10-0 run. Three-pointers from Deng and Juani Dassie followed in succession as the Mines advantage swelled to 21-18 at the 12:41 mark.
 
After Trey Ballard hit a three for the Eagles, Adam Krasovec went for a quick five with a 2-2 trip to the stripe and a trey of his own to make it a 10-point lead for the first time at 26-16 before Markus Pastorcic-Straun joined the fun with a layup off a Caleb Clark block on the other end. Clark then scored a second-chance bucket after a CSC turnover as the second unit for the Orediggers pushed the lead to 14 inside eight and a half minutes to play.
 
The first half advantage peaked at 14 following a steal-and-score dunk by Deng at the 4:28 mark that made it 39-25. Julio Phipps and Thomas did their best to trim the deficit and managed to get Chadron State within six at 41-35 before Zy Wright scored five in a row to make it a 43-40 game in the final two minutes of the half. Mines weather the storm of the 12-4 and scored the final five points of the period behind Krasovec, Deng and Cade Mankle to make it a 48-40 game heading into the break.
 
CSC made a concerted push coming out of the intermission and on the strength of two treys from Wright and two Darrius Miles free throws, they closed to within four at 52-48 in just over two minutes of play. Alex Romack, who battled first half foul trouble, helped steady the ship by scoring the next five before Schroeder cleaned up a miss at the free throw by the sophomore as part of what ended up being a 14-0 run capped by a Dassie three-pointer that made it 66-48 with 14:13 to play.
 
Back-to-back treys from Reagan Koch around a John Jenkins layup made it a 20-point lead for the first time at 72-52. Koch ended up scoring 11 straight points by himself with two free throws and another three ball in the minutes that followed before Clark knocked down his first three of the game to make it 80-56 with 9:24 remaining.
 
Chadron State never threatened for the remainder of the game and the lead never dipped below 24 for the rest of the action. A three-pointer from Riley Schroeder at 6:52 made it 90-63 before Derek Lamb hit the century mark for the game with his first bucket of the day inside two minutes that made it 100-69. The redshirt freshman ended up with the final six points of the day as he closed things out for Mines while a few late makes from the floor and the line by the Eagles served only to pad stats at that point as the Orediggers extended their winning streak to six games with a 104-77 win.
 
NOTABLES
-Deng led five in double figures with 22 points on 7-12 shooting and also went 6-7 at the line with two rebounds and two steals
-Romack finished with 14 on 4-6 from the floor and 6-8 from the line and was two rebounds shy of a double-double despite battling first half foul trouble
-Mankle chipped in 11 on 5-9 shooting with four rebounds
-Schroeder followed up his big night Thursday with 11 Saturday on 5-10 from the field
-Koch added 11 of his own off the bench on 3-5 shooting with all his field goals of the three-point variety and went 2-2 at the stripe while hauling in six rebounds
-Pastorcic-Straun was tossing dimes on the three-point barrage in the second half and ended the game with six assists to compliment his eight points on 4-6 shooting
-Dassie had his best outing in a while, going for nine off the bench on 3-6 from downtown
-Lamb ended the day with a season-high six points on a perfect 3-3 shooting in the closing minutes
-Mines shot 55.1% (38-69) in the game and 37.5% (12-32) from beyond the arc
-The second unit was big again Saturday, scoring 46 points
-Mines tied their season low of six turnovers in the game while forcing 17 and coming away with eight steals and scoring 24 points off CSC turnovers
-The Orediggers have now won 31 straight in the series against Chadron State
-Mines has now scored 100 or more points in a game four times this season, their most 100-point outings in a season in the last decade
-With other results around the league, the Orediggers now hold a two-game lead over Regis in the standings after the Rangers' 77-62 loss to Black Hills State
 
UP NEXT
Mines has a short week coming up and perhaps one of the most important of the season starting Tuesday night with a trip to MSU Denver at 8 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.