GOLDEN, Colo. – An electric night by
Jonathan Moore complimented by a dazzling night from
Anthony Andrew were some of the standout performances from the Colorado School of Mines men's basketball team as they moved to 2-0 on the young season with a 93-66 win over St. Mary's (TX) in their first game of the Conference Challenge Friday at Lockridge Arena.
Moore turned in the fourth 20-point performance of his career while freshman
Anthony Andrew announced his arrival with a big night off the bench as the Orediggers (2-0) turned in another strong offensive performance and used a stifling defensive effort to pull away from the Rattlers (0-1) and lead comfortably for most of the night on the way to the win.
St. Mary's scored first on a second chance bucket from Liam Switzer as the opening minutes saw a flurry of early lead changes. An Amare Banks three and a Switzer layup were answered by back-to-back three's from
Braydon Jacob and Moore as Mines took their first lead of the night at 9-7 at the 17:21 mark. The Rattlers kept it close and didn't allow the Orediggers to pull away by more than four before a KD Davis dunk keyed off a 7-0 run for the visitors as they retook the lead 16-13.
Jackson Brennan countered with a three-ball the next possession and after a line change by Mines,
Anthony Andrew splashed a pair of treys around one the other way by Lawyer Jones, but the lead had changed hands for the final time as Mines now led 22-13 with 10:59 in the half.
A steal-and-score dunk by
Will Cordonnier brought the crowd to their feet moments later, but St. Mary's continued to remain close as a three with 8:43 to go by Paora Winitana made it a 26-23 game. Another long-range splash by Anthony a minute later keyed off a 21-4 run to end the first half as the lead swelled to 50-27 by the break. Five three-pointers in the run by Anthony along with Brennan, Moore and
Cooper Mroczek saw the Orediggers pull away while the defense held the Rattlers to just 1-8 shooting with two turnovers in the stretch. A putback dunk by Moore put an exclamation point on the opening 20 minutes as Mines went to the locker room up 23.
The Orediggers kept it rolling to begin the second half, as eight straight by Moore including an absolute posterization of Jai Chisolm saw the lead hit 30 for the first time at 57-27 less than two minutes into the period. Another three by Jacob followed by a three from
Alex Romack continued the run and extended what was a 36-6 run spanning 11:09 of game time in which Mines went 13-18 from the floor and 8-12 from deep. The Rattlers briefly brought the deficit back under 30 on a layup by Winitana, but Mines continued to pour it on offensively while clamping down defensively to erase any hopes of a rally. The lead peaked at 39 as part of another 10-0 Mines run headlined by Cordonnier which made it 77-38 with 10:04 left in the half. Both sides played out the stretch and emptied their benches in the closing minutes. The closest the margin got was 25 in the final seconds on a Wesley Wake three-pointer, while
Derek Lamb closed out the scoring with a tip-in to seal the 93-66 win.
NOTABLES
-Moore led all scorers with a game-high 25 points on 9-14 shooting including 5-9 from three with seven rebounds and two steals
-Andrew hit double figures for the first time in his career and in his second-ever game in a Mines uniform, going for 13 off the bench on 5-8 shooting with a trio of three-pointers to go with five boards
-Jacob splashed nine points in the game, all from downtown with four assists
-Romack had a balanced night with eight points and seven rebounds on 2-2 from the floor and 3-5 from the line with four assists and also hit his sixth career three-pointer
-Mroczek also ended with eight off the bench on 3-6 shooting with a pair of treys
-Cordonnier added seven on 3-4 shooting with two steals and a block on defense
-Brennan had another solid night with six points, four rebounds and five assists
-Minter added seven assists while shooting 2-3 from the field
-Essman hit a late three to extend his scoring streak to eight games
-12 different players scored in the game for Mines and all 16 players in uniform saw action for the second game in a row
-The Orediggers once again lit things up on offense, shooting .531 (34-64) for the game with a mark of .545 (18-33) in the first half while shooting .450 (18-40) from long range with 11 first-half treys
-Mines also outrebounded St. Mary's 41-36, had 24 assists on 36 made field goals and more than halved their turnover total from opening night with just eight on Friday
UP NEXT
The Orediggers host #23 Lubbock Christian in the final game of the Conference Challenge at 7 p.m. from 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.
