GOLDEN, Colo. – The Colorado School of Mines men's basketball ran their winning streak to four games Saturday afternoon at Lockridge Arena against South Dakota Mines by a score of 88-72 in a wire-to-wire effort. Freshman Kasen Lehman, appearing in just his second career game, led the way off the bench and headlined five in double figures for the Orediggers (8-9, 4-2) while Trent Minter and Alex Romack both finished with double-doubles as a 29-point halftime deficit was simply too much for the Hardrockers (7-7, 4-2) to overcome in a battle of two of the top academic teams in the RMAC.
 
Mines scored first and scored often in the early going, going on a 33-5 run over the best 13-plus minutes to take control of the game and never looked back. Alex Romack got things going and after a 1-2 trip to the line by Kellon Johnson, Jonathan Moore splashed a three to quickly make it 6-0 less than three minutes in. Jason Lee got the Hardrockers on the board with a layup on the next possession as Romack and Moore continued to work as the lead moved to 11-2 at 14:17. Gavin Soukup's three made it 11-5, but the next time SDM scored they found themselves down 33-8 after a 22-0 run lasting more than seven minutes headlined by the freshman trio of Lehman, Trent Minter and Kellon Johnson. The lead hit 30 for the first time with just under five to play in the opening frame as Thursday's star Shelton Henton drained a three-pointer to make it 40-10. The lead peaked at 32 on three occasions heading into the break as Lehman and Henton continued to stroke it from long range as the Orediggers took a comfortable 50-29 lead to the locker room.
 
Coming out to resume the second half, the Hardrockers looked to make up some ground and find a way back into contention. Ryan Sweeney and Abel Hutchinson got things started before Lee started lighting it up from long range, hitting a quartet of treys as part of a 25-8 run that trimmed the deficit to 14 at 71-57 with 7:23 remaining. Johnson, Lehman and Moore helped weather the surge as a three-point play from the junior forward pushed the lead back to 19 at 78-59 inside five minutes to play. After two SDM free throws, Moore converted another three-point opportunity and pushed the gap back to 20 once more. Lehman delivered the dagger with his fourth three-pointer of the day to make it 84-64 at the 3:24 mark before Romack teamed up with Minter on a full court pass for a layup to provide some late excitement and keep the Hardrockers at bay. Both sides emptied their benches to play out the final minutes and though SDM scored six of the final eight points in the game, it did little to impact the outcome as the Orediggers claimed their 10th straight win over their engineering rivals to the north 88-72.
 
NOTABLES
-Lehman, in just his second career game, led all scorers with 20 points off the bench on 8-14 shooting including 4-10 from downtown with four rebounds, three steals and an assist
-Moore just missed out on a double-double, ending with 16 points on 6-11 shooting and nine rebounds while adding two more blocks to his weekend haul
-Henton followed up his big night Thursday by dropping 14 with a pair of triples and a season-best 8-8 day at the free throw line to go with four boards, two dimes and a steal
-Minter recorded his first career double-double with 13 points and 10 assists while going 4-7 from the floor and 5-7 at the line with four rebounds and a steal to cap a strong weekend on both sides of the ball; his effort was the first points-assists double-double since the great Gokul Natesan did so with 13 and 12 on March 14, 2017 against West Texas A&M in the NCAA Tournament
-Romack turned in his 10th double-double of the season with 12 points and 10 rebounds thanks to 6-11 shooting while adding two assists, a block and a steal
-Johnson chipped in eight points on 3-5 shooting with two rebounds and a steal
-Mines recorded their fourth straight game with 40 or more rebounds, ending with 42 and hauling in another 14 offensive rebounds
-The six blocks defensively mark the seventh time this season the Orediggers have tallied five or more rejections in a single game
-With the win, Mines is now in a four-way tie for third in the RMAC standings at 4-2 with CSU Pueblo, Colorado Mesa and South Dakota Mines
 
UP NEXT
The Orediggers hit the road for the first time in the new year next weekend when the travel to CSU Pueblo and Colorado Christian January 15 and 17.

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.