With the way the Mavericks have been playing recently, it almost seemed sure they were on their way to their seventh straight victory when they had an 84-74 lead with just 1:49 remaining. Colorado School of Mines wasn’t fazed by the deficit, staging a comeback and securing a strong 99-94 overtime win against CMU to improve their record to 6-3 and increase their winning streak to five.
With both teams having a strong start to overtime, the true dagger came when Joe Micks flushed a clutch three-pointer with 1:24 left in OT to grab a 95-92 lead. After a pair of Conner Nichols free throws made it 95-94, CMU fouled immediately. Mason Baker sank both for Mines, and Tommy Nuno and Nichols each attempted last second threes to tie it, but to no avail.
Micks had had quite the weekend for the Orediggers. The 6’2 sophomore scored 29 against Western Friday night and chipped in 14 in this one with a momentum-swinging three.
Nichols finished with a game-high 26 points on 9-23 shooting. The senior had 21 second-half points for CMU, who shot 55% in the latter half but struggled offensively to close it out late and were just 2-8 from the floor in OT.
“Our offensive execution down the stretch, both regulation and overtime, we got to clean up a few things with different lineups,” coach Mike DeGeorge said. “The fact of the matter is just getting our system in place with this group has been our focus, and situational things with different lineups are something you have to go through the fire with and sometimes tough losses like this can help you grow.”
CMU shot just 44.8% in the first half but were a perfect 9-9 from the charity stripe. The Mavericks seemed like jolts out of a cannon, coming out of nowhere and intercepting passes for steals that led to fastbreak points.
Kolton Peterson, coming off four threes the previous game, led all Mavericks with eight points heading into halftime. The sophomore launched a game-tying three with 32 seconds left to make the score 40-40.
The Mavericks and Orediggers were trading baskets within the first few minutes of the second half. Nichols was able to win a 50/50 ball and take it the other way for a righty layup to nab a 50-48 lead. The rhythm kept going when the Mavericks secured a 58-55 lead, converting five of their last six threes and seven of their last eight shots.
Late in the second half, Nichols worked his way past the Oredigger defense and finished an athletic, double clutch righty layup for the and-one to give CMU an eight-point lead, their largest of the night with 6:55 left. Each team was issued 26 fouls throughout the contest, a rather high number that made it tough for several Mavericks to get into any sort of rhythm.
“It was hard to get a sense of what was going to be called and what wasn’t,” DeGeorge said. “Sometimes games are a little more physical and it was just a little bit hard to manage that. All in all, we managed the foul trouble and were able to deal with that and I thought the guys hung in there pretty well.”
Unfortunately for CMU, the Orediggers nailed two deep threes in a row to send the contest into overtime. Ben Boone made it 85-83. Micks fouled Brandon Hoffer before the entry pass. Hoffer made just one of two free throws, and after a three-point miss from Micks, Ben Clare secured the rebound and dished it out to Baker who swished the three with 11 seconds remaining to knot the score at 86-86.
Damon Dubots fouled out with 2:05 remaining in overtime and finished with nine points. Nuno had another strong all-around game, finishing with 17 points, four steals, four rebounds, and three assists.
Clare led Mines with 23 points and nine rebounds while Ben Sonnefeld ended with 20 points, seven rebounds, and six assists. Mines shot 48.5% in the game, including 10-20 from deep, and outrebounded CMU 45-37. CMU, however, won the turnover battle, losing the ball 12 times compared to Mines’ 18.
The Mavericks shot a season-low 47% (31-66) from the floor. The figure is the first time CMU has shot under 50% so far this season, an astonishing feat that signals this year’s team has so much left to offer.
The 7-2 Mavericks will hit the road before the break and will face Chadron and Metro State, two strong RMAC opponents.
“Chadron has really been playing well, way improved over a year ago, and Metro has a ton of talent on the verge of figuring it out,” DeGeorge said. “It’ll be a big weekend for us to finish off right before Christmas. We’ve had a great start, we want to make sure we are finishing things off before the break.”
