GUNNISON, Colo. --- The Western Colorado men's basketball team begins RMAC play this week when they travel to take on defending regular-season RMAC champion Colorado School of Mines on Friday and then travels to take on University of Colorado - Colorado Springs on Saturday.

THE MOUNTAINEERS HEADING INTO THIS WEEK | 2019-20 SEASON STATS
Western Colorado is coming off splitting two games at the CMU Holiday Inn - Airport Thanksgiving Classic, losing a nail biter to Montana Western 73-71 on Friday (Josh Tomasi led the team with 15 points and 10 rebounds) before beating Missouri Western State 86-82 on Saturday behind Jackson Ehrlin's 30-point, 10-rebound effort that included the go-ahead basket with 23 seconds left and blocking a game-winning 3-point attempt in the final seconds.

Tomasi leads the team in scoring at 14.3 points per game to go along with 6.8 rebounds per contest. Cole Sienknecht is second on the team in scoring at 13.3 points per game along with averaging 4.0 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game and leading the team with 10 3-pointers. Ehrlin is averaging 12.8 points and a team-best 7.6 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 0.8 blocks per game.

A strength for the Mountaineers has been its ability to get to - and convert - at the free-throw line. WCU has attempted 155 free throws and is shooting 75.5 percent from the line compared to their opponents shooting 98 free throws and hitting 69.4 percent of them.

COLORADO SCHOOL OF MINES HEADING INTO THIS WEEK | SEASON STATS
The Orediggers have dropped their last two games, including their RMAC opener on Saturday to UCCS, 82-77, at home. CSM was led by Mason Baker as he had 27 points to go along with five assists and three rebounds while Titus Reed had 18 points and five rebounds.

Baker leads the Orediggers in scoring at 19.4 points per game while also leading the team at 5.8 assists per contest. The 6-foot guard is shooting 50 percent (10-for-20) from 3-point range and is 27-for-29 from the free-throw line (93.1 percent). Brendan Sullivan is averaging 17 points, 5.0 rebounds, 2.5 assists and a team-best 1.8 steals while Glen Michael is averaging 13.4 points, 7.2 rebounds and 2.0 assists.

The Orediggers as a team are shooting 42.3 percent from 3-point range (47-for-111) and are averaging 78.6 points per game while allowing 72 points per contest.

UCCS HEADING INTO THIS WEEK | SEASON STATS
The Mountain Lions head into this week having won four of their first five games of the season - including beating Colorado School of Mines in their RMAC opener 82-77 on Saturday in Golden. UCCS was led by DaRaun Clark as he had 30 points in just 23 minutes off the bench - including going 4-for-8 from 3-point range. Padiet Wang had 18 points and four rebounds while Blend Avdili had 11 points.

Wang leads the team in scoring at 19 points per game while also averaging 5.0 rebounds, 2.2 steals, 1.4 blocks and 1.8 assists. Clark is second in scoring at 18.8 points per game as no other Mountain Lion is averaging double figures. Parker Gaddis leads the team in assists at 4.0 per game to go along with averaging 5.4 points per ame.