SPEARFISH, S.D. – The Colorado School of Mines men's basketball team dropped the opening leg of the final true road trip of the season Thursday night at the A2 Arena to 20th-ranked Black Hills State 87-69 After leading for almost eight minutes in a first half that featured nearly a dozen lead changes, the Orediggers (13-13, 9-6) found themselves unable to keep pace with the Yellow Jackets (19-4, 12-3) over the final 20 minutes of action as they slid back to .500 on the season with the result.
 
Cam Lowe got Black Hills State on the board first with a three-pointer on their opening possession of the night before Kellon Johnson and Alex Romack went back-to-back from long range to take a 6-3 lead. Joel Speckman tied things at 7-7 before Jonathan Moore and Johnson splashed three's around a layup from Myles Johnson to jump back in front 13-9 with 13:30 in the opening half. A 10-2 BHSU run led off by Speckman saw them retake the lead at 19-15 near the midway point in the half before a Braydon Jacob layup broke things up. Romack and Lowe traded buckets as the clock wound under 10 minutes before Shelton Henton leveled the score at 24 as he hit from downtown. The triples kept coming, first from Tristan Hurdle before Will Cordonnier and Moore went back-to-back to retake the lead 30-27 with 5:42 left. Jaeton Hackley and Hurdle then went back and forth with Cordonnier and Braydon Jacob for the lead, trading five three-pointers with a layup mixed in over a 91 second stretch that ended with Mines ahead 39-37. Black Hills State then ended the half on a 9-3 run as BJ Woodruff and Jackson Seale scored the last four points to take a 46-42 lead into the break.
 
Mines battled back to the lead over the opening minutes of the second half, erasing a six-point deficit thanks to an 8-0 run that included Romack, Trent Minter, Johnson and Henton as they retook a 52-50 lead with 14:53 to go. Unfortunately BHSU scored nine straight and 15 of the next 19 as they powered back in front 62-54 approaching the 11-minute mark. Romack and Henton tried to keep it close with a five-point gap twice over the ensuing two-plus minutes, but the Yellow Jackets attack showed no signs of relenting as the lead moved to 10 at 70-60 with 8:35 left before extending to 20 at 86-66 inside 2:30 to play. Each side scored just once more over the final minutes as they emptied their benches and let the reserves close things out in an 87-69 ball game.
 
NOTABLES
-Romack ended his night two rebounds shy of his 17th double-double of the season as he scored 17 points on 6-12 shooting with eight rebounds while adding a block and a steal defensively
-Cordonnier shined off the bench once again, scoring 11 on 4-8 shooting including 3-5 from deep with three assists and a block
-Johnson ended his night with 10 points on 4-7 shooting including a pair of three-pointers
-Henton also ended with 10 points on four field goals with a pair of three while hauling in a pair of rebounds
-Moore ended his night with seven points and eight rebounds with two assists, a block and a steal
-Braydon Jacob added five points and four assists off the bench
-Minter scored four points with five rebounds and four assists
-Mines shot 10-18 (.556) from the three-point line and 15-30 (.500) in the first half
 
UP NEXT
Mines makes the return trip to Chadron State Saturday for a 3 p.m. contest with the Eagles.

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.