GOLDEN, Colo. – For the third time this season and second time at Lockridge Arena, the #9/9 Colorado School of Mines men's basketball team took the court against Chadron State, but this time in the quarterfinals of the 2025 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Championship Tuesday night. After jumping out to a double-digit first half lead behind a blistering shooting pace, the Orediggers (25-4) had their hands full in the second half and needed a late rally in the final minutes to knock off the Eagles (15-14) and punch their ticket to the semifinals with a 79-74 win.
 
Grant Pressly got the night going with a second chance three-pointer off an Alex Romack rebound, the first of what ended up being 10 treys in the opening period for the Orediggers. Jalen Thomas got the Eagles on the board three possessions later before Majok Deng and Cade Mankle each connected from deep. 6'11" Darrius Miles cleaned up a miss for CSC to make it 9-4 before Riley Schroeder connected from long range to make it and eight-point lead.
 
Chadron State briefly closed to within three following a jumper from John Jenkins that capped a 7-2 run by the visitors and made it 14-11 before Mines scored the net seven with a layup from Mankle, a steal and dunk by Deng and a trey from Juani Dassie to push the lead out to 10 at 21-11 with 12:38 to play. Thomas and Caleb Clark exchanged three-pointers and after a Zy Wright inside jumper, Mankle keyed off a 10-4 run with Schroeder scoring four in the middle before the redshirt junior captain hit a step back three to make it a 34-19 lead at the 8:07 mark.
 
After the lead peaked at 17 following a layup by Alex Romack, the Eagles slowly worked their way back to within six at 39-33 thanks to a 9-0 run spanning the better part of two-plus minutes. Consecutive three balls from Schroeder and Adam Krasovec quickly pushed the lead back to 12 as the Orediggers took a 45-33 lead and some breathing room to the intermission.
 
That breathing room didn't last long to begin the second half as Chadron State opened the period on a 17-3 run behind Jaylen Davis, Wright, Miles and Julio Phipps as they knocked down a trio of three-pointers while the big man rocked the rim with a two-handed slam as less than four minutes in, the lead was down to 48-47 before Wright connected from deep again to take the first lead of the game for Chadron State 50-48.
 
Looking to counter, Markus Pastorcic-Straun scored his first points to tie the game and after Thomas retook the lead on a jumper, Reagan Koch buried a corner three for the second lead change in 64 seconds. The lead changed hands on five straight possessions starting at 12:52 as CSC came out ahead after a Jenkins layup and a Thomas jumper to make it 60-57 inside the 10-minute mark.
 
Pastorcic-Straun converted a three-point play to level the score at 60, but a quick four from Chadron State saw them re-establish their lead behind Thomas and Phipps. It remained a two-possession contest for nearly the next six minutes as CSC continued to lead by as much as five. A timely three from Krasovec and free throws by Mankle helped keep it close as the Orediggers looked to regain some kind of momentum.
 
That momentum came in the form of Pastorcic-Straun as he tied things from the line at 69 with less than four minutes to go and again at 71 before taking the lead on a driving layup 73-71 with 2:21 to play. CSC briefly tied the game with two free throws from Miles before consecutive layups from Schroeder and the sophomore from Ontario made it a four-point lead in the final minute at 77-73.
 
A late foul sent Wright to the line where he made the first but missed the second with 23 seconds left, triggering a mad scramble for the ball as it caromed out of bounds. The loose ball rebound went in favor of the Orediggers as Krasovec fielded the ensuing inbounds pass and was fouled right away by the Eagles. The big man from Hungary iced the game with two free throws on the other end as a pair of desperation three-pointers from Phipps and Wright both missed their mark as the Mines rally netted a 79-74 win to advance to the semifinals.
 
NOTABLES
-Mankle shined as he turned in a season-best 22 points on 7-11 shooting including 3-5 from beyond the arc to lead all scorers while adding three assists and two rebounds along with a steal
-Schroeder eclipsed the 1,000-point mark in his career with his first field goal of the night, a three-pointer at 16:23 as he ended the night with 13 points on 5-9 from the floor with five rebounds, two assists and a steal
-Pastorcic-Straun was huge in the final minutes, finishing the night with 13 of his own and all coming in the second half; he also scored eight of the final 12 points of the game for Mines over the final 3:18 of action
-Krasovec added eight off the bench and hauled in five big rebounds
-Deng chipped in seven with three rebounds, two assists, a block and a steal
-Pressly dished out six assists and scored three points along with three rebounds.
-10 of the 11 players that appeared in the game for Mines scored at least three points
-The Orediggers connected on a season-high 10 three-pointers in the first half and shot 65.4% (17-26) over the opening 20 minutes
 
UP NEXT
The Orediggers will now host the semifinals and championship game of the 2025 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Championship starting Friday night at Lockridge Arena. Semifinal one between second-seeded Regis and sixth-seeded Fort Lewis will get underway at 5 p.m. with tip-off in semifinal two between Mines and fifth-seeded Black Hills State is scheduled for 7 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.