ALAMOSA, Colo. – Looking to get back to their winning ways Saturday, the Colorado School of Mines men's basketball team returned to action at Plachy Hall for the second of two meetings this season with Adams State. What started out as a close game in the opening half eventually saw the Grizzlies (13-7, 7-5) pull away from the Orediggers (11-12, 7-5) over the final 20 minutes thanks to a blistering shooting performance north of 65% on the afternoon in a 96-78 decision.
 
Shelton Henton and Luke Williams traded three-pointers before Trent Minter and Wyatt Helming exchanged buckets in the opening minutes. Adams State took their first lead thanks to a 16-5 run starting with the bucket from Helming as Ivan Dorn Jr's layup at 12:40 made it a seven-point lead at 17-10. A steal followed by two free throws from Will Cordonnier preceded another steal from the Ohioan that led to a Cooper Mroczek layup as very quickly the Orediggers found themselves trailing by just three less than two minutes later. ASU quickly pushed their lead back to eight before things stabilized with eight minutes in the half at 26-19. A 9-0 Mines run kicked off by an Alex Romack dunk and capped by a Cordonnier triple saw the lead change hands against 28-26 before a 10-0 run from the Grizzlies saw them go back in front for food at 36-28. Alex Romack and Trent Minter helped keep the Orediggers within striking distance from the free throw line as the half closed with Adams State leading 41-33.
 
Coming out of the intermission, a Romack steal led to a Shelton Henton layup the other way to close within six, but that ended up being as close as things got over the final 20 minutes. ASU quickly pushed the gap to double figures first to 11, then 20 and eventually as much as 27 with just over three minutes to play. Mines went down swinging in the final minutes though and held the Grizzlies without a field goal over the final minutes as both sides emptied their benches in the final minutes and let the reserves play out the stretch. Silas McCurnin and Derek Lamb along with Mroczek closed the scoring but did little to impact the result as Adams State rode a .688 shooting performance in the second half while shooting .655 for the afternoon on their way to the 96-78 finish.
 
NOTABLES
-Moore ended the day with 21 points on 7-12 shooting and was 5-6 from the line with four rebounds and two assists
-Henton's day ended with 15 points on 5-9 shooting including a trio of three-pointers while hauling in four rebounds with two assists, a steal and a block
-Romack closed with 10 points thanks to a 6-6 day from the stripe while adding four rebounds, two steals and an assist
-Mroczek chipped in 10 off the bench on 4-9 shooting with four rebounds
-Cordonnier had his best game of the month as he finished with seven on 2-3 shooting and 2-2 from the line with two steals
-11 of 12 Orediggers who checked into the game scored Saturday
-Mines registered 10 steals defensively for their fourth such game with at least 10 steals and finished one off their season-high mark of 11
 
UP NEXT
Mines heads back to Lockridge Arena to open February next weekend against Western Colorado on Thursday February 5 for Professor Appreciation Night and February 7 against Westminster for a Green Game benefitting the Mines Student Emergency Fund.

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.