Men fall 58-67 to Adams State on the road

The Colorado School of Mines Men’s Basketball team traveled to Alamosa on Friday night to square off against the eighteenth ranked Adams State Grizzlies.

In what would prove to be a defensive battle, the Orediggers jumped out to an early 10-4 lead five minutes into the game, but by the halfway point of the first half, the score was tied at 11 with neither team being able to establishing much of a rhythm against stifling defenses. If it was not for free throw shooting in the first half, 10-12 from the charity stripe, the Orediggers would have been facing a far greater deficit at the half than the 22-28 hole they were in. Of the Orediggers final 12 points in the first half, nine of them came from the free throw line with a Brian Muller three-pointer standing as the only field goal that Mines made in the last half of the first session.

Only down six at halftime to a quality opponent, Mines needed to find their stroke early. And with Muller knocking in a three for the Orediggers to open the second half, Mines looked to be off to a good start. But three points would prove to be as close as Mines would get as five minutes into the half the Orediggers found themselves down 11 at 30-41. Trailing by as many as thirteen, the Orediggers kept just close enough to make a run thanks once again to superb free throw shooting and some crucial threes, and with less than 30 seconds remaining the Orediggers closed the gap to six points. But on this night, the Orediggers simply ran out of time, failing to pull off the upset, losing 67-58.

The loss drops the Orediggers to 10-6, 7-5 in the RMAC while No. 18 Adams State is now 13-2, 11-1 in the RMAC after their home court victory. Luke Meisch led the Orediggers in points and rebounds on the night with 20 and eight respectively. Muller went 3-8 from beyond the arc and added 13 points of his own. Trevor Wages had nine points and seven rebounds, and Nico Mucci led the Orediggers with 3 assists. The Orediggers shot 36.6% from the field to Adams State’s 38.1%, and Mines continued their stellar free throw shooting on the season making 21-26 for 80.8%. However, having nearly twice as many turnovers as Adams State (20-11) and a rebounding deficit of 38-29 proved to be the nail in the coffin for the Orediggers who were playing their first of two road games against top 25 teams.