It was a tale of two halves in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference’s RMAC Shootout semifinal between Colorado Mesa and Colorado Mines.
After a tough start, Colorado Mines was dominant at both ends and clutch at the foul line in the second half to pull away and advance to the championship game with a 84-73 win.
Five players scored in double figures for the Orediggers with RMAC Defensive Player of the Year Gokul Natesan leading the way with 19 points. Caleb Waitsman had a double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds for Colorado Mines (24-6) while Kaan Korkmaz had 15 points off the Orediggers’ bench. Colorado Mines made 24-of-26 free throws and was perfect down the stretch to secure the win.
“There was a lid on that bucket in the first half, and I wasn’t very happy at halftime,” Colorado Mines head coach Pryor Orser said. “There’s a lot of leadership with this group, and we were disappointed in the way we were playing.”
It took a few minutes for the teams to get settled in, but when they did it was Colorado Mesa that caught fire first. The Mavericks used two big first half runs, 12-0 and 10-0, to build a double-digit lead.
Colorado Mines shot an abysmal 33 percent from the floor in a cold first 20 minutes offensively, but the Orediggers stayed in the game at the foul line making 12-of-13 tries. Mesa shot 56 percent from the field and a scorching 67 percent from long range, making six first-half 3-pointers in the while the Orediggers were 0-for-7 from behind the arc.
Though the Mavericks (20-9) were the much sharper team in the first half, Colorado Mines trailed by just eight at halftime, 40-32.
“I give them a lot of credit for the way they played defense on me in the first half,” Natesan said. “I wanted to be more aggressive in the second half, and I was able to get in the paint a bit easier.”
The Orediggers burst out of the locker room to start the second half and used a 9-3 run to close the gap and set the stage for a tightly contested finish.
Unfortunately for the Mavericks, it was anything but that.
The more active the Orediggers were, the slower the Mavericks got.
When Mines finally grabbed the lead inside 5 minutes left to play, Colorado Mesa had no answer. The Orediggers outscored Mesa 15-6 down the stretch to close the deal.
“I thought they got tired late and we were able to take advantage,” Orser said. “It helps, too, when you make your foul shots.”
While Mines was unflappable from the line, Mesa struggled mightily, making just 59 percent of the foul shots for the game.
The RMAC Player of the Year, Ryan Stephan, led the Mavericks with 23 points and 10 rebounds in what might be his final game.
Colorado Mines will face Fort Lewis at 7 p.m. Saturday for the RMAC Shootout championship.
jfries@durangoherald.com
