GOLDEN, Colo. --- The Western Colorado men's basketball team battled tough with No. 5 Colorado Mines, but the Orediggers pulled away in the second half as the Mountaineers fell 67-57 Friday at Lockridge Arena.
 
The Mountaineers (0-4 overall, 0-3 RMAC) jumped out to a 21-12 lead to start the game on the Orediggers (5-0, 4-0) and held a 26-23 advantage after an Avery Rembao jumper with 3:40 left in the first half.
 
But Mines went on an 8-0 run to end the half to take a 31-26 advantage into the break.
 
The Orediggers continued to add to the lead early in the second half and led 44-32 before a 7-0 run by the Mountaineers – capped by a Grant Wilkinson 3-pointer and a Jackson Ehrlin layup – made it 44-39 Mines with 12:12 remaining.
 
But that's as close as the Mountaineers would get as Mines pushed the lead to as much as 16 points before settling for the 10-point win.

Four Mountaineers finished in double figures with Matthew Ragsdale leading the way with 13 points while Cole Sienknecht, Jackson Ehrlin and Avery Rembao had 11 points apiece. Rembao added a team-high seven rebounds while Ehrlin had five rebounds and a team-high four assists. Freshman Elijah Davidson had six rebounds and led the team with two blocks and two steals.

The Mountaineers shot 33.3 percent from the field and actually shot better from behind the arc, going 8-for-23 (34.8 percent).

Brendan Sullivan led the Orediggers with 24 points to go along with eight rebounds.

The Mountaineers' game for Saturday against Regis is postponed due to COVID-19 concerns as Western won't return to action until hosting South Dakota Mines on Jan. 5.