GUNNISON, Colo. – Back on the road and truly away from home for the first time in the last four weeks, the #10/9 Colorado School of Mines men's basketball team was at Paul Wright Gym Thursday night for their lone meeting of the season against Western Colorado. The action came in fits and spurts for most of the evening with both teams experiencing periodic shooting woes and turnover troubles before eventually the Orediggers (18-3, 12-1) took control and pulled away in the second half, knocking off the Mountaineers (6-14, 4-9) by a final score of 68-56.
 
Neither side shot the ball particularly well in the opening minutes, going a combined 3-19 to start the game by the under-16 media timeout where the Mountaineers led 4-3. The lead changed hands three times on the next three possessions coming out of the break as Jonathan Moore and Markus Pastorcic-Straun led the second unit in a bid to gain some momentum, going ahead 7-6.
 
The score remained close as starting with a 13:24 layup from Pastorcic-Straun, three straight possessions resulted in points. Nalik Veasley's layup made it 10-8 before Juani Dassie drilled a straightaway three to make it 13-8. After an Amar Rivers jumper, the Oredigger starters checked back in and went to work, scoring the next five in the game behind a Riley Schroeder layup and a three-point play by Cade Mankle to make it 18-10 Mines.
 
Once again, Western Colorado battled back to within four on an Andrew Reichart layup with 7:52 on the clock, the first of four straight possessions resulting in points. Schroeder was next with a layup followed by Ty Buckmon before the fifth-year man from Orange, California hit a three-pointer to make it 23-16.
 
Trey Anderson and Reichart scored the next five for WCU to close back within a bucket at 23-21 inside five and a half minutes in the period, but Pastorcic-Straun and Adam Krasovec countered and pushed the lead back up to 27-21. The lead remained between five and seven until Mankle hit a three-pointer with 1:16 on the clock to make it a 10-point lead for the first time at 35-25. Rivers scored the final four points of the half for the Mountaineers with a Reagan Koch trey in the middle as after 20 minutes Mines held a 38-29 lead.
 
Deng started the half by converting a three-point play opportunity after getting fouled on a layup to make it 41-29 32 seconds in. The lead peaked at 14 following a Dassie three-pointer at 15:41, but Western Colorado followed by going on a 10-0 run to close back to within five at 46-41 at the 13:27 mark. Following a Mines timeout, Schroeder connected on a three-pointer with help from Alex Romack to break the wave of momentum for the time at 49-41.
 
Dawlton Grant cut he gap back six before five straight points from Schroeder extended the advantage back to double digits at 54-43 and went on an 8-2 run by himself, hitting another three just over two minutes later to make it 57-45. Two Grant Pressly free throws made it a 14-point lead by a trey by Rivers snapped a four-plus minute scoring drought for the Mountaineers to make it 59-48.
 
The double figure lead maintained for the rest of the action. Deng, Romack, Caleb Clark and Pressly kept pace down the stretch as while WCU paired the gap down to 10 in the final 65 seconds, the sophomore from Indiana closed things out from the free throw line to close the books on the 68-56 win.
 
NOTABLES
-Schroeder led all scorers with 18 points on 7-11 shooting and went 4-6 from downtown with seven rebounds, two blocks and two assists
-Mankle went for nine with six of those coming on a pair of three-pointers; he also added five rebounds, three dimes and two steals
-Deng finished with eight and added five rebounds of his own
-Pastorcic-Straun saw his double figure scoring streak end with a six-point outing, but still shot 3-4 in the game
-Dassie had his best outing of 2025, as he too ended with six on 2-4 shooting from deep
-Pressly, Koch and Moore all ended with four points and combined for nine rebounds and five steals between them; Pressly had three of each to lead the way
-All 11 players who checked into the game for Mines scored in the win
-Despite a slow start to the night shooting, the Orediggers shot 45.3% (24-53) for the game and 52.6% (10-19) from behind the arc
-Western Colorado shot just 20% (4-20) from the three-point line in the game and only attempted seven free throws for the game, five of which came in the final 3:36
 
UP NEXT
The Orediggers head to Salt Lake City Saturday to take on Westminster 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.