GOLDEN, Colo. – Five players finished in double figures Monday night as the Colorado School of Mines men's basketball team tipped off the new season in style with a 114-78 win over Colorado College at Lockridge Arena.
The Orediggers (1-0) trailed only once in the game for 2:28 before taking the lead and never looking back. The Tigers (0-0), playing Monday's game as an exhibition, had no answer for Mines' size and physicality as they scored 54 points in the paint as
Alex Romack led the charge inside and set the tone for the night.
Christian Drummond splashed a pair of three-pointers to begin the night for Colorado College as they lead for the first two-plus minutes. Romack scored the first five of the night for Mines before a three-pointer from
Jonathan Moore saw the night's only lead change at 8-6 with 17:32 to play. That make was part of a 16-0 run to push the advantage to 16-6 which included the first career basket for
Jackson Brennan in a Mines uniform and a pair of free throws from
Kellon Johnson. After a layup and a three-pointer by CC, the Orediggers really stretched the lead with an 18-2 run that made it 32-13 with just under 8:30 in the half. A steal-and-score dunk by
Trent Minter along with a pair putbacks by Brennan and Romack highlighted the sequence. Mines continued to pad their lead heading to halftime, as
Will Cordonnier,
Braydon Jacob and
Kellon Johnson all splashed from long range while
Jack Ratigan rocked the rim with a thunderous dunk the final minutes to make it a 58-35 game after 20 minutes.
A sluggish start to the second half by Mines saw Colorado College take advantage to close within 20 at 60-40, but the second unit for the Orediggers put a quick stop to that. A three by Cordonnier at 18:11 kicked off a 12-2 run that included five straight points by
Anthony Andrew that pushed the lead to 30 for the first time at 72-42 in a span of less than two minutes. Jacob got hot for stretch and splashed a pair of three-pointers at 15:32 and 11:34 with a layup off a steal by Brennan as well. Another slam by Ratigan at 11:01 made it 86-51 as the score climbed toward the century mark.
Silas McCurnin's three-pointer with five minutes left made it 101-64 as both sides played out the final minutes with their reserves.
Matija Jordovic hit a three late in his first game back from an injury late season that made it 111-71 while
Will Essman closed out the scoring for Mines from the free throw line. A late triple by CC's Justiyce Icart all but concluded matters with the result long ago decided as the Orediggers celebrated a 114-78 win.
NOTABLES
-Romack led the Orediggers with 17 points on 7-8 shooting with eight rebounds
-Moore, sporting #24 this season, went for 14 points on 3-5 from the floor and 7-8 at the line
-Jacob splashed 13 on 5-8 shooting including 3-4 from downtown with three assists and a steal
-Cordonnier also went for 13 off the bench on 4-6 shooting and 3-4 from deep with four boards, three dimes, a block and a steal
-Johnson went for 11 on 4-8 shooting with three assists
-Minter nearly went for a double-double, finishing with nine points on a perfect 4-4 from the floor and nine assists along with four steals and four rebounds
-Ratigan, making his Mines debut, scored eight with five rebounds on 4-6 shooting in 14 minutes
-McCurnin scored a career-high seven points on 2-4 shooting from three with a free throw late
-Brennan scored six points with six rebounds, four assists and three steals in 19 minutes as he started his Mines debut after missing all of last season to injury
-Essman extended his career-opening scoring streak to seven games with six points while also adding three rebounds
-Andrew scored six points in his collegiate debut on 2-4 shooting
-
Ryan Pramenko made his collegiate debut with four minutes in the late going
-All 16 players who dressed for Mines appeared in the game
-Mines shot a blistering .625 (40-64) for the night and .520 (13-25) from long range, including 9-16 from three in the second half
-The Orediggers held a 46-30 advantage on the glass and had 28 assists on 40 made field goals while forcing 12 steals on defense
UP NEXT
Mines will host the Conference Challenge at Lockridge Arena this weekend with games against St. Mary's (TX) on Friday and Lubbock Christian on Saturday.
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.
