GOLDEN — The Colorado School of Mines men’s basketball team had been here once before — the NCAA Division II Tournament second round — but now the Orediggers are taking it a step further.
Buoyed by its 3-point shooting defense and a somewhat unexpected long-distance barrage of its own, No. 1-ranked Mines advanced to the Central Region final with an 80-60 win over fifth-seeded Minnesota State-Moorhead on its home floor Sunday night.
Their 17th consecutive win gives the Orediggers (29-2), who lost in this round a year ago to Fort Lewis, a chance to close a so-far unblemished home season Tuesday night against RMAC rival Metro State, with a berth in the Elite Eight on the line.
“I know our kids are doing an unbelievable job,” Mines coach Pryor Orser said. “(We’re) the best bargain in college basketball in the state, I’ll tell you that right now.”
The Orediggers built a 40-25 halftime lead mainly by limiting the Dragons (21-10) to 2-of-10 shooting behind the arc. Moorhead had made 279 3-pointers on almost 42 percent accuracy coming into the regional, but finished 6-21 (.286) Sunday.
The Drangons trio of Charlie Chapman, DJ Hamilton and Andre VanHavermaet had combined for 183 treys but Sunday they shot 1-of-7 in the first half, finishing 5-of-17 for the game, Hamilton scoring 15 of his game-high 21 points in the second half.
“Absolutely, we wanted to take their 3-ball away,” Orser said. “We have a system of defense, and I think we can play any particular style.”
Mines added insult to injury for Moorhead by going 9-of-18 on 3-pointers, just three shy of their season high in made treys. Brett Green, a junior from Peyton, was 3-of-4 en route to a team-high 18 points.
“It felt pretty good to get my shot going today,” Green said. “It’s been a while since I’ve been able to get some good offense.”
Senior center Dale Minschwaner didn’t have a 3, but added 17 points and 11 rebounds.
“I’m really, really pleased with our performance,” Orser said. “After a tough game last night (82-69 win over Augustana), we came out ready to play.”
