COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Thursday the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference announced its All-Conference teams and major award winners for men's basketball and following a regular season league title and a quarterfinal win Tuesday, the Colorado School of Mines men's basketball was well-represented on the postseason honors list with five total selections, highlighted by Player of the Year Majok Deng and Coach of the Year Pryor Orser.
 
A graduate transfer in his second season at Mines after transferring from Pepperdine, Deng repeats his First Team All-RMAC honors from 2023-24 and becomes the fifth Oredigger to be named RMAC Player of the Year. The leading scorer for the Orediggers for almost the entirety of the season, Deng's scoring average peaked at 17.0 PPG and hovered between 15 and 16 per night for most of the season. A .450/.349/.879 shooter this season who started all 29 games this seaspm, he was among the RMAC leaders in scoring average and free throws this season while also hauling in 3.8 rebounds per contest while dishing out 19 assists and posting career-highs with 28 and steals and seven blocks defensively in 23.9 MPG. Seven times this season he scored 20 or more points including a season-high 33 at home against Adams State on February 1 and against Chadron State during the regular season, went over 1,000 points in his six years of college basketball between Pepperdine and Mines.
 
Orser, the winningest coach in the history of the RMAC, was named Coach of the Year by his peers for the sixth time during his Mines tenure. His 24th season at the helm in Golden saw Mines bring home the program's 11th RMAC regular season championship and first since the 2019 season and record 20 or more wins in a season for the 10th time in the last 12 seasons. The regular season title in 2025 is the sixth for Mines under Orser's guidance while for the fifth time, he has coached an RMAC Player of the Year selection in Deng. Through Tuesday night's quarterfinal, Orser's career record stands at 470-231 overall and 335-159 in league action.
 
Joining Deng on the All-RMAC First Team is fifth-year senior Riley Schroeder. Schroeder will end his career with the best statistical season of his time in Golden, the Orange, California product has averaged 12.3 PPG this season while shooting .494/.327/.801 in 26 games with 25 starts, logging 23.6 MPG. He's averaged 3.5 RPG this season with 92 totals rebounds and recorded 14 blocks while turning in career-best marks with 53 assists and 18 steals. 18 times this season he scored in double figures with a trio of 20-point performances, highlighted by a season-best 22 against Black Hills State on February 13. Schroeder is also the second of two 1,000-point scorers on the active roster for Mines, as he eclipsed that mark Tuesday night in quarterfinal action against Chadron State.
 
Sophomore Markus Pastorcic-Straun netted Second Team honors following a breakout season in which he was a key piece of the Orediggers' second line. The Ontario native who arrived in Golden by way of North Carolina had a breakout season, averaging 10.7 PPG through action Tuesday and averaging better than eight points per game for the course of the season. Pastorcic-Straun turned in a .526 shooting season this year and went .782 from the free throw line while starting three times in 29 games and averaging 20.6 MPG. The team leader in steals with 33, he's also hauled in 71 rebounds and dished out a career-high 80 assists. 16 times he has scored in double figures including a stretch of seven consecutive games from January 11-February 1 while his career and season-high of 24 points came against national powerhouse West Liberty on December 19.
 
Last year's Freshman of the Year Alex Romack earned his first All-RMAC honors with an Honorable Mention selection in his second season at Mines. The Westfield, Indiana native split time starting and coming of the bench for Mines, averaging better than 10 PPG in a reserve role the two-thirds of the season before returning to the starting rotations and producing five games with 10 or more points down the stretch. Romack shot .600 from the floor this season and averaged 4.7 RPG while dishing out 32 assists and blocking 14 shots while setting a new career-high with 26 steals. He made 14 starts in 29 games, averaging 20.1 MPG and 13 double figure scoring outings, highlighted by a career-high 23 points against Adams State on the road December fifth in which he shot 9-11 and added eight rebounds.
 
Rounding out the Mines contingent is another fifth-year senior, Grant Pressly. A reserve for nearly the entirety of his first four seasons in Golden, Pressly emerged as one of the elite passing point guards in the RMAC this season, rankings near the top of the league for the entirety of the season when it comes to assists and is one of five players with over 100 assists with 107. A starter in 25 of the 28 games in which he has appeared this season, Pressly shot .421 from the floor with career-best marks across the board in field goals, three-pointers, free throws, minutes, rebounds, assists, blocks, steals and scoring. In addition to his triple-digit assists, he also hauled in 129 rebounds and recorded 32 steals and seven blocks defensively in 23.9 MPG. 13 times this season he recorded five or more rebounds and had nine games with five or more assists. He also led the RMAC in assist/turnover ratio this season at 3.0 (107 AST, 36 TO) and is the only player in the league with a mark above 2.0.
 
William Becker of UCCS was named the league's Defensive Player of the Year of the Year while Black Hills State's Came Lowe was claimed Freshman of the Year honors. Mines led all schools with five All-Conference selections followed by MSU Denver, Fort Lewis and Black Hills State who each had four selections.
 
Mines resumes postseason action Friday night at 7 p.m. against Black Hills State in the semifinals of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Championship 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.
 
RMAC Player of the Year: Majok Deng, Mines
RMAC Defensive Player of the Year: William Becker, UCCS
RMAC Freshman of the Year: Cam Lowe, Black Hills State
RMAC Coach of the Year: Pryor Orser, Mines
 
2025 RMAC Men's Basketball First Team All-Conference
Ty Allred, G, R-Jr. Colorado Mesa
Majok Deng, G, Gr., Mines
Biko Johnson, G, Sr., Fort Lewis
Cam Lowe, G, R-Fr., Black Hills State
Chase Mayo Harmon, G, Jr., Regis
Zy Wright, G, Sr., Chadron State
William Becker, F, Gr., UCCS
Brayden Carter, F, Sr., MSU Denver
Caleb McGill, F, Sr., MSU Denver
Riley Schroeder, F, R-Sr, Mines
 
2025 RMAC Men's Basketball Second Team All-Conference
Jalen Brown, G, So., Regis
Caelin Hearne, G, Sr., Black Hills State
Xavier Martinez, G, So., UCCS
Markus Pastorcic-Straun, G, So., Mines
Jude Tapia, G, Jr., Adams State
Jalen Thomas, G, Gr., Chadron State
Kobe Sanders, G, Gr., Regis
Chuol Deng, F, Sr., Fort Lewis
Bradley Land, F., R-So., Colorado Christian
Yaak Yaak, C, So., Colorado Mesa
 
2025 RMAC Men's Basketball Honorable Mention All-Conference
Jaeton Hackley, Black Hills State
Tristan Hurdle, Black Hills State
Julio Phipps, Chadron State
Will Mortimore, Colorado Mesa
Grant Pressly, Mines
Alex Romack, Mines
Armon Muldrew, CSU Pueblo
De'Shaun Cooper, CSU Pueblo
Tru Allen, Fort Lewis
Quave Propst-Allison, MSU Denver
Logan Threatt, MSU Denver
Blessin Kimble, New Mexico Highlands
Kenard Richardson, New Mexico Highlands
Eddy Egun, Regis
Haanes Saar, UCCS
Kade Juelfs, Western Colorado
Donoval Avila, Westminster