GOLDEN, Colo. – The Colorado School of Mines men's basketball team made it a clean sweep of week five of Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play Saturday afternoon at Lockridge Arena with an 83-69 win over MSU Denver to move over .500 for the first time this season. A balanced attack saw six score in double figures for the Orediggers (11-10, 7-3) while a stingy defensive effort stymied the Roadrunners (6-12, 4-6) as a 24-point halftime deficit was too much to overcome.
 
MSU Denver scored first 90 seconds in thanks to transition layup from Garrett Falls that culminated in a three-point play. Shelton Henton, who committed the offense on the other end, atoned by getting Mines on the board with a three-pointers the next trip down the floor. Quave Propst-Allison's trey a minute later put MSUD back ahead before a pair of inside buckets from Alex Romack and Cooper Mroczek saw the first and only lead change of the day as Mines took the lead 7-6. Those two buckets kicked off a 25-3 run that spanned just about six minutes of game action as the Orediggers led 28-9 when all was said and done. Five straight from the line by way of Jonathan Moore and Henton preceded buckets from Trent Minter, Kellon Johnson, Braydon Jacob, Alex Romack and Kasen Lehman as the lead ballooned thanks to contributions up and down the lineup. Lehman scored eight straight at one point in the opening frame as the lead never dropped below 12 for the rest of the half. Though the Roadrunners did get some offense going in the final nine minutes of the period, a 5-7 performance from long range closed out a convincing opening stanza for the Orediggers as Henton, Mroczek and Moore each splashed treys down the stretch to take a 51-27 lead to the break.
 
Play resumed fast and furious to begin the second half as Falls splashed a three to lead things off before Mines came back the other way with a pair of triples from Johnson and Henton. After a driving layup from Falls, the ensuing inbounds pass was played long by Minter to a wide-open Moore, who jammed home a two-handed slam as the margin peaked at 27 with the score 59-32. MSUD scored the next eight to close back within 19 over next few minutes, but the freshman trio of Mroczek, Johnson and Minter helped break the wave of momentum and push the lead back north of 20 at 65-44 with 13:31 left. A pair of steals by Jacob led to easy layups by Johnson and Romack as Mines pushed their back to 26 at 76-50 near the nine-minute mark. Down the stretch the Orediggers managed to keep the Roadrunners at bay and never let the separation drop below 14 the balance of the game. Romack scored the last two field goals to earn another double-double before Silas McCurnin wrapped up the scoring for Mines with two free throws in the final minute. Logan Threatt's late layup served but to just pad stats in the last seconds as the horn sounded on an 83-69 Oredigger win.
 
NOTABLES
-Henton led six Orediggers in double figures for the day with 15 points on 4-11 shooting with all of his makes coming from long range while going a perfect 3-3 from the free throw line while adding four assists
-Romack recorded his 13th double-double of the year with 13 points and 11 rebounds as he shot 6-10 from the floor
-Johnson finished with 10 points on 4-10 shooting including a pair of three-pointers with two assists and a steal
-Moore scored 10 on 2-4 from the field and 5-6 from the line with five boards and two blocks
-Mroczek went for double figures off the bench for the second game in a row, also scoring 10 on 3-7 shooting with two rebounds, two assists and a block
-Lehman rounded out the group with 10 points of his own on 4-7 shooting including a pair of treys while pulling in two rebounds and pocketing two steals
-Minter ended with eight points, eight rebounds, six assists and three steals and went 4-8 from the field as he continued his chase for a triple-double
-Mines improves to 52-36 all-time against MSU Denver and 30-17 when playing at home and has won 14 straight in the series going back to 2017
-The Orediggers improved to 7-1 at home on the season and are now 6-1 in 2026 and have won seven of their last nine games dating back to December 20
 
UP NEXT
The Orediggers close the month of January on the road next weekend at league leader Fort Lewis on January 29 before making the return trip to Adams State Saturday January 31.

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.