Men’s basketball loses in OT to CMU 74-77

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The Colorado School of Mines men’s basketball team squared off against the Colorado Mesa Mavericks on Friday night in Lockridge Arena. The Orediggers, down by as much as 17 in the first half, clawed their way out of that hole and forced the Mavericks into overtime.

It was definitely not a first half to remember for the Orediggers, who shot just 28.6% and failed to make any of their seven three point attempts. After a 6-6 tie, the Orediggers hung around until the halfway point when Mesa went on a 17-8 run to end the half leading 35-20.

The Orediggers found their groove in the second stanza making the first three shots of the half to close the deficit to just nine. After Mines closed the gap to just five at 37-32, Mesa went on an 8-1 run. After a promising start to the half the Orediggers still found themselves down 12 points with just over 12 minutes remaining. From that point on the Orediggers out-scored the Mavericks 28 to 16, tying the score at 61 with 1:16 remaining. Both teams had the ball with a chance to win the game in the last minute, but neither could capitalize on their opportunity.

In Overtime, Trevor Wages gave Mines the lead at 64-61 with an old fashioned three pointer. This was the first lead for the Orediggers since they led 6-4 in the opening minutes of the game. Colorado Mesa outlasted Mines in the final period making their free throws down the stretch to win the game 77-74. The Orediggers played a hard fought game against a quality opponent and just barely missed pulling out the win, but the 17 point first half deficit and the energy used to come back proved too much to overcome.

Mines is now 10-8, 7-7 in the RMAC and Mesa is now 14-4, 11-3 in conference. The Orediggers shot a much better percentage of 53.1% in the second half, shooting 43.1% overall. It was a rare off night for the Orediggers from the charity stripe, making only 14-22 for 63.6% and making only 4 of their 18 three point shots on the night.

Trevor Wages scored 14 points on 4-12 shooting and grabbed seven rebounds in the game. Brian Muller added 12 on 5-17 shooting and Luke Meisch led the way for the Orediggers with 18 on the night to go along with eight rebounds.