GOLDEN, Colo. – Looking to get back in the win column with the start of the new month, the Colorado School of Mines men's basketball team returned to Lockridge Arena Thursday night for a crucial battle between two midfield teams in the RMAC standings against Western Colorado. After leading by nine at halftime, the Orediggers (12-12, 8-5) had to fend off a second-half rally by the Mountaineers (6-15, 4-9) as Alex Romack and Shelton Henton came up big over the final 20 minutes to secure a hard-fought 84-67 win.
 
Western Colorado won the tip and scored first on a layup from Quincy Scott and led 4-2 after the first four possessions of the night before Mines came back with a 7-0 run fueled by Jonathan Moore, Romack and Trent Minter to take a 9-4 lead. Henton splashed a three after a pair of free throws from Scott before Minter cleaned up his own miss to take an eight-point lead with just over 15 minutes in the half. Will Cordonnier headlined the second unit in the opening half, accounting for five points in an 8-0 run as a second-chance three splashed home to make it 22-10 with 11:25 left. Following two WCU free throws, Cordonnier converted a three-point play off a missed three-pointer to extend the lead to 13 moments later. The Mountaineers scored eight of the next 12 as Aidan McDowell hit a pull-up three to trim the gap back to seven at 27-20 with under eight minutes to play. An 11-4 Oredigger run featured more offense from Cordonnier as an inside jumper made it 40-26 in the closing minutes. WCU scored six of the last seven to close the period as mines took a 41-32 lead to the locker room.
 
As play resumed, the Mountaineers wasted no time getting right back into the mix as they opened the second half on a 12-4 run to make it a one-point game at 45-44 at the 14:41 mark. Mines responded with nine points in the next 69 seconds as a Romack layup, Henton jumper, Minter dunk and a Henton three brought the home crowd to their feet and pushed the lead back to 10. Once more Western Colorado came back as Tyler Halligan led the charge by scoring five straight as part of a 7-0 run that again made it a one-point game at 54-53. A Henton three momentarily broke the momentum before another five went on the board from WCU to cap a 12-3 sequence and retake the lead 60-57 with 9:46 to play. Mines tied things twice on the next series of seven possessions before another three from Henton retook the lead 65-62. McDowell, Henton's numerical opposite, came right back the other way with a three to draw even once more before Romack took things into his own hands. Matched up against 6'11" Joanis Koulisianis, Romack flashed his ability in the post as he scored the next eight points for Mines highlighted by a pair of a fall-away jumpers to retake the lead 73-67 with just over three minutes remaining. While Romack was handing business inside, the rest of the Orediggers tightened the screws on defense as they held WCU scoreless over the final four minutes of action before closing things out from the free throw line. Mines ended the night on a 15-0 run to get back in the win column 84-67.
 
NOTABLES
-Henton came out on top in a matchup of two of the best shooters in the RMAC against WCU's McDowell as he scored a game-high 23 on 8-12 shooting including 4-8 from three with three boards and two assists
-Romack had a big night on the way to his 15th double-double of the season, finishing with 19 points on 7-11 shooting and 5-7 from the line with 13 rebounds and a block
-Cordonnier, sporting some new footwear in the form of some red and blue Kobe 8s, went off for a season-high 17 off the bench on 6-13 shooting with a pair of three-pointers, five boards and two assists
-Minter's strong second half of the season continued as he tied his season-high in scoring with 16 points on 7-13 shooting with four boards, three assists and three steals
-For the game, the Orediggers shot .534 (31-58) from the floor and scored half of their 84 points in the paint
-Mines did a good job taking care of the ball, tying their season low in turnovers with seven and registering 13 assists on 31 field goals
-Defensively, the Orediggers were stifling against WCU in three-point defense, holding the opposition to a 3-27 night from long range and holding McDowell, the RMAC scoring leader, to just 2-11 from long range in his worst three-point shooting night of the season; Mines also held WCU to just two second chance points in the game
-Mines has now won seven in a row against Western Colorado and improves to 93-99 all-time
 
UP NEXT
Mines returns to action Saturday at 3 p.m. 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.