GOLDEN, Colo. – A career night from Alex Romack on the offensive side of the ball wasn't enough Thursday night as the Colorado School of Mines men's basketball team dropped a 79-66 decision to UCCS at Lockridge Arena. Despite Romack also going over 1,000 career points in the game, three-point woes and turnovers resulted in the Orediggers (14-14, 10-7) coming out on the short end against the Mountain Lions (14-11, 9-8) to open their three-game homestand.
 
Brody Hull went 1-2 from the line to open the night before a pull-up midrange baseline jumper by Shelton Henton saw Mines take their first lead of the night. UCCS came back with the next five before Romack and Trent Minter scored the next four as the lead changed hands a third time. The back-and-forth action continued as Evan McKean's tip-in followed by a Xavier Martinez layup put the Mountain Lions back on top 10-8 at the 14:12 mark. UCCS continued to lead as the Orediggers kept it the deficit to a two-possession game. A transition three from Braydon Jacob followed by two Will Cordonnier free throws tied things at 19 with just over eight minutes left in the opening half before Alex Hurr's three put UCCS back ahead. Derek Lamb scored the next four off the bench for Mines to take a 23-22 lead, but a long 17-1 run by the Mountain Lions to end the half over the final 6:08 saw them regain the lead for good and head to the break leading 39-24.
 
Mines flashed some life to open the second half as a tip-in and a dunk by Jonathan Moore were part of a 7-2 run to resume play and cut the gap to 41-31. The hot start was short-lived unfortunately as shooting woes continued to plague the offense and allowed UCCS to build and 18-point lead following a three from Hull that made it 51-33 with 12:20 to go. In need of someone to step up, Romack answered the bell as he went to work and played bully ball inside against the defense, scoring the next seven capped by a three-point play that brought it back to a 10-point game at 52-42 with 9:38 remaining. After two free throws from Shawn Williams, Kellon Johnson's three made it a nine-point game at 54-45, but that was as close as the Orediggers got over the final nine minutes. Romack continued to work inside while Shelton Henton splashed a pair of three's down the stretch, but those efforts weren't enough to rally as UCCS picked up the win 79-66.
 
NOTABLES
-Romack led all players as he scored a career-high 27 points on 9-11 shooting both from the floor and the free throw line and went over the 1,000 point mark in his career, needing just 95 games to accomplish the feat; he also finished with seven rebounds, two steals and a blocked shot
-Henton finished with 10 points for the third consecutive game and tied his season high with five assists while also recording two blocks and three rebounds
-Johnson and Moore each finished with six points with the former adding three rebounds and two assists and the latter hauling in six rebounds with two blocks
-Cordonnier added five off the bench with three rebounds
-Lamb scored four points with a block and a steal
-Mines went just 5-26 (.192) from the three-point line in game
-Five different Orediggers recorded a blocked shot while six logged a steal
-Mines ended the night with seven blocks, the fourth time this season they've recorded seven or more in a game
-A combined 40 fouls were called in the game, with each side being whistled for 20 infractions and a combined 10 players finished the night with three or more personal fouls
 
UP NEXT
Mines continues their final homestand of the season Saturday at 3 p.m. in the second of two meetings with CSU Pueblo.

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.