PUEBLO, Colo. – Looking to atone for a late loss Thursday and regain momentum heading into the postseason, the #5/6 Colorado School of Mines men's basketball team lined up opposite CSU Pueblo Saturday evening at Massari Arena for the second of two meetings between the teams this season. The action started off slow between the teams but picked up late in the first half with seven lead changes leading to an offensive explosion in the second half as the Orediggers (24-4, 18-2) managed to take the lead and hold it over the final 21 minutes of action, sweeping the season series with the ThunderWolves (12-16, 7-13) by a score of 76-71.
 
CSU Pueblo opened the night on a 7-0 run behind Brevin Walter, Armon Muldrew and Victor Lado over the opening two minutes. Riley Schroeder got Mines on the board the next possession on a dime from Grant Pressly before scoring again on a layup from Adam Krasovec with a pair of Majok Deng free throws in between to make it 7-6 at 15:59.
 
The ThunderWolves scored the next six to run their lead back to seven at 13-6 with Walter scoring four points during the run. Markus Pastorcic-Straun broke things up with a 1-2 trip to the line at 13:06 before rocking the rim off a steal moments later. Reagan Koch's mid-range pull-up jumper from the elbow made it 13-11 as again the Orediggers made it a one-possession game at 11:57.
 
Muldrew and Kesean Bazile briefly made it a six-point lead for CSUP before Deng drilled a three in front of the home bench and was awarded a free throw for contact in the act of shooting. The sixth-year man out of Tucson converted at the line to make it a 17-15 game before Schroeder leveled the score with two free throws coming out of the under eight-minute media timeout. De'Shaun Cooper's dunk made it 19-17 for a moment before Schroeder came back the other way for a wing three-pointer of his own to give Mines their first lead of the night at the 6:28 mark.
 
Following a 1-2 trip to the line for Blair, Grant Pressly and Lado traded three-pointers before Blair hit a turnaround jumper in the paint to retake the lead 25-23 inside five minutes to play. Cade Mankle hit a stepback jumper in front of the home bench to make it 26-25 for the second in a series of lead changes down the stretch heading to the break. Kennis, Pastorcic-Straun, Lado and Jonathan Moore all scored on consecutive possessions as Mines came out ahead on the sequence 30-29 before the sophomore from Ontario closed out the half with a driving layup in the final minute to give the Orediggers a three-point lead at the intermission.
 
While the conference track and field championships may have been a few hours up the road in Colorado Springs this weekend, the action to open the second half sure made it seem like a track meet as the Orediggers and ThunderWolves seemingly matched each other point for point as play resumed. Schroeder scored the first five of the period for Mines starting with a three-pointer with a Kennis layup in between for CSUP. Adam Krasovec made it an eight-point game off an inbounds pass by Grant Pressly at 39-31 before a Jordan Blair three-pointer cut it down to a five-point edge. The Orediggers quickly pushed their lead back to nine at 43-34, but the ThunderWolves wouldn't go away as Cooper, Lado and Bazile went on an 8-2 run to get within three at 45-42 with 14:59 to play.
 
Caleb Clark kicked off the first of four consecutive field goals by the teams with a driving layup as Muldrew hit consecutive three's while Koch added one of his own. A 1-2 trip to the line by Lado made it a 50-49 game with just over 13 minutes in regulation before Mankle hit a trey from Pressly then came up with a steal-and-score to run the lead back to six.
 
CSUP briefly cut the lead to four on a layup by Lado the next trip down the floor, but after a Deng jumper at 10:46, the lead hovered between six and eight points for nearly the next five minutes when Koch cleaned up a miss by Pastorcic-Straun to make it 65-55 with 5:57 to play.
 
The separation then stayed between seven and nine points until Cooper did his best try and will CSU Pueblo back closer, converting two free throws then coming up with a steal and dunk to make it a five-point game on two occasions. An inside jumper from Krasovec in the final 80 seconds made it 74-67 before a three from Muldrew made it a four-point game with 47 seconds to go. Mines did leave the door cracked for the ThunderWolves after missing the front end of a one-and-one with 10 seconds left, but a missed three-pointer followed before a foul was whistled inside against the Orediggers, sending CSUP to the stripe. After a 1-2 trip by Lado made it a three-point game, Deng secured the rebound off the miss before being fouled himself as he iced the game by converting twice on the other end to close out the 76-71 win.
 
NOTABLES
-Schroeder turned in his third 20-point performance of the season to lead the way, doing so on 8-12 shooting including 2-4 from three-point land with two boards and two assists
-Deng turned it on in the second half to finish with 14 points behind a 7-7 outing at the stripe with four rebounds and a career-high two blocked shots
-Pastorcic-Straun chipped in 11 off the bench on 5-9 shooting with two rebounds and a steal, finishing in double figures for the 15th time this season
-Krasovec added nine with four rebounds, three dimes, a block and a steal
-Mankle finished with eight on 3-6 shooting with four rebounds and two steals
-Koch netted seven on 3-4 from the floor with two assists and a steal
-Mines shot 50.9% (29-57) in the game including 54.5% (18-33) in the second half
-The Orediggers recorded five blocks in a game for the sixth time this season and added another seven steals defensively
-With the win, Mines matches last season's win total of 24 while posting their 18th RMAC win, the second time in the last three seasons they have done so
 
UP NEXT
Mines embarks on their postseason campaign next Tuesday in the quarterfinals of the 2025 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Championship against the eighth-seeded Chadron State. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. at Lockridge Arena.

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.