COLORADO MINES MEN'S BASKETBALL
Game Notes - Week #12
vs. Fort Hays State, 2/14/03 - Golden, Colo., 8:00 pm
vs. Nebraska-Kearney, 2/15/03 - Golden, Colo., 8:00 pm

PROBABLE STARTERS
No. Name Pos. PPG RPG APG FG%
10 Kevin Wagstaff G 8.6 2.7 3.9 .384
11 Stephen Bahl G 23.2 1.2 2.1 .481
20 Matt Luedtke G 14.6 4.8 2.8 .420
44 Farris Broussard F 5.6 6.2 1.8 .746
55 Mike McNish C 12.2 6.5 1.6 .667

OFF THE BENCH
No. Name Pos. PPG RPG APG FG%
3 Cole Henderson G/F 0.6 0.5 0.7 .667
5 Chad Friehauf G 4.0 3.2 1.4 .287
23 Ross Rhinehart G 3.2 0.8 1.0 .451
30 Justin Buckmaster F 5.3 3.8 1.1 .544
31 Bill Hadley G 0.0 0.3 0.0 .000
52 Ryan Woodson C 6.4 4.2 1.0 .479

THE HEAD COACH
Pryor Orser is in his second season at the helm of the Oredigger men’s basketball program. He claims a 20-27 overall mark and a 12-20 record in the RMAC during his time in Golden. Prior to coming to CSM, Orser served one year as the assistant men’s basketball coach at the University of Montana in Missoula. Orser’s previous coaching experience also includes a four-year tenure at Northwest College in Wyo., where he worked as the head of the women’s basketball program and an assistant to the men’s basketball program, At Northwest, Orser led the women’s squad to the most wins in school history (22) during his fourth and final season, an improvement of 20 games from his first season on the sideline at Northwest.

LAST TIME OUT (2/8/03): Metro State raced out to a 33-17 lead at the half and hung on for a 63-60 victory over Colorado Mines in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference men’s basketball action Saturday night in a sold-out Volk Gymnasium. Metro gained the 13-point halftime lead thanks in large part to Luke Kendall who dropped in 11 points in the first stanza. Trailing by 12 points (52-40) with 6:56 to play in the game, Mines would cut its deficit to 56-51 with 3:52 to play on a layup from senior forward Justin Buckmaster. However, the Roadrunners pushed their lead back up to eight points with 16 seconds to play and hung on for the win. Mines was led by sophomore guard Matt Luedtke who scored 16 points and grabbed five boards. Sophomore guard Stephen Bahl tallied 16 points and three assists, while Buckmaster added six points and five boards off the bench.

BUZZER BEATEN: CSM dropped a 73-72 game to Chadron State on Friday night in Volk Gymnasium as Eagle guard Jeremy Wissing hit a 12-foot jumper that hung on the rim and fell at the buzzer.

HE’S A BALLER: Sophomore guard Stephen Bahl has lived up to his name this season as the Broomfield, Colo., native is leading the RMAC and is fifth in the nation with 23.2 points per game. In addition, he has scored in double figures in all 21 games this season, including a career-high 43 points in a 77-69 victory over Augustana on Nov. 30. Bahl, the RMAC East Division Player of the Week on Dec. 17 and Jan. 29, has led the team in scoring in 14 games this season. He is shooting 48 percent from the field, 45 percent from three-point range and 83 percent from the charity stripe. Bahl played a season-high 40 minutes in Saturday’s loss to Metro and is averaging 31.0 minutes per ballgame.

LEADER OF THE PACK: Sophomore guard Stephen Bahl is the only player in the RMAC that has topped the 400-point mark this season and his 488 points are 91 more than anyone else in the league. With 12 points this weekend, Bahl will top the 500-point mark for the season. In addition, with his 34 points in the two games last weekend, Bahl now has 786 points in just under two seasons for CSM.

SOMETHING ABOUT THE LOPERS: Nobody will be happier to see Nebraska-Kearney than Mines junior forward Farris Broussard. In the first meeting the season between UNK and Mines on Feb. 1, Broussard poured in a career-high 19 points on 9-of-9 shooting from the field, and also tallied seven rebounds and three steals. Prior to that game, his previous career-high was 18 points in a loss to Kearney last season. In his last three games against UNK, Broussard has connected on 18-of-24 shots (.750) and has averaged 12.7 points and 10.0 rebounds per game. This season, the San Jose, Calif. native is averaging 5.6 points and is second on the team with 6.2 boards per game. He is also shooting 75 percent from the floor (44-59).

IN THE REGION: In last week’s North Central Regional Rankings, Mines was the seventh ranked team. In addition, CSM earned its highest regional ranking earlier this season when it was tabbed fourth in the region for one week. The Orediggers were also rated 26th in the nation during the week of Jan. 28.

DIAPER DIGGERS: The Colorado Mines roster contains just two seniors, both of whom were walk-ons to the program in Mike McNish and Justin Buckmaster, and one junior in Farris Broussard. The other eight players are in either their first or second season with the program.

BRING OUT THE BROOMS: For the first time in the history of the program, Colorado Mines swept the RMAC Western Division by going a perfect 7-0 this season. Mines was one of only two teams in the conference to accomplish that feat this season. Nebraska-Kearney was the other.

DYNAMIC DUO: Sophomore guards Stephen Bahl and Matt Luedtke have formed one of the deadliest duos in the RMAC this season. Combined, Bahl (23.2 ppg) and Luedtke (14.6 ppg) are the top team duo in terms of scoring (37.8 ppg). In addition, Bahl and Luedtke have combined for 136 three-pointers with Bahl’s 69 trifectas second in the conference and Luedtke’s 67 hits third in the RMAC.

SWISH FOR MCNISH: Senior center Mike McNish has not missed much this season as he has connected on 98-of-148 shot attempts this season. His .662 field goal percentage is third in the RMAC.

ALL AROUND GUY: Sophomore guard Matt Luedtke has been a steady performer for Mines this season. A University of Montana transfer, Luedtke is second on the team in scoring (14.6 ppg) and assists (2.8 apg) and third on the squad in rebounding (4.8 rpg). In Mines’ two losses last week, Luedtke registered 42 points, including 26 against Chadron State, 10 rebounds, five assists, four steals and three blocked shots. He connected on 15-of-24 shots, including 10-of-19 from three-point land last week.

GRIDIRON TO THE HARDWOOD: Redshirt freshman guard Chad Friehauf has been a key performer for CSM since he concluded the 2002 football season as CSM’s quarterback. On the gridiron, he was an Honorable Mention All-RMAC honoree as he completed 173-of-280 passes for 2,197 yards and 21 touchdowns. On the court, Friehauf has played in all 21 games and is averaging 4.0 points 3.2 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game.

LONG STREAK: Mines won a school-record 11 games from Dec. 13-Jan. 23 before losing to Fort Hays to snap the streak on Jan. 31.

ONE MORE THAN TWO: Mines has attempted an astounding 561 three-pointers this season, connecting on 215 of them for 38 percent. In a loss at Fort Hays on Jan. 31, CSM attempted 42 trey’s.

SEVEN-ELEVEN: Seven of the 11 players on the CSM roster are Colorado natives. Only Matt Luedtke (Montana), Farris Broussard (California), Ryan Woodson (Arkansas) and Justin Buckmaster (Oregon) hail from outside the state.

BEST IN D 2: CSM’s 15 wins in the most ever by the team as a Division II program. The Oredigger’s previous high win total as a Division II program was 14 wins in its inaugural DII season (1995-96). In addition, Mines is within reach of the school record for victories in a season (21) set by the 1980-81 team.

BLOCK PARTY: Mines is the top-ranked team in the RMAC in blocked shots with 109 swats in 21 games for an average of 5.2 per game. Senior center Mike McNish leads the way as he is ranked third in the conference with 1.7 blocks per game. Junior forward Farris Broussard is fourth (1.4 bpg), while senior forward Justin Buckmaster is 11th with 0.8 blocks per game. Sophomore guard Matt Luedtke ranks 13th in the conference with 0.7 blocked shots per game. In the win at Adams State on Jan. 17, Mines blocked a season high 13 shots, including four each by McNish and Broussard.

CLOSE CALLS: One difference between this year’s squad and last year’s is their ability to pull out the close games. Last season, Mines was just 4-11 in games decided by 10 points or less, including 1-3 in overtime. This year, the Orediggers are 9-3 in games decided by 10 or less, 1-0 in overtime. One loss was a 78-72 loss at Fort Hays on Jan. 31, while the other two losses came over the weekend to Chadron State and Metro State.

HOME SWEET HOME: CSM will conclude its regular season home schedule with two games this weekend. Mines entered last week with a perfect 9-0 record in Volk Gymnasium, but dropped a pair of home contests last week, its first losses in Volk since Feb. 23, 2002, a 66-61 loss to Fort Hays in the final game of the 2001-02 season.

SCOUTING THIS WEEK’S COMPETITION:
Fort Hays State enters the week at 17-4 overall and 9-4 in the RMAC. Last week, the Tigers fell at Nebraska-Kearney (78-72) and defeated Regis at home, 85-65. Leading the way for FHSU was Melroy McKelvey, the reigning RMAC Player of the Week in the East Division, who averaged 20.0 points and 8.0 rebounds per game. For the season, McKelvey is seventh in the RMAC in scoring (15.7 ppg) and fifth in rebounding (8.2 rpg). Dominique Townes averages 12.3 points and 3.5 boards per game, while George Walker is third in the conference in rebounding at 8.4 per game. As a team, the Tigers are shooting 49 percent from the floor, 38 percent from three-point land and 68 percent from the free throw line. FHSU averages 79.1 points per game and gives up 67.0 per night.

Nebraska-Kearney comes into the week at 20-0 overall, 13-0 in the RMAC and the lone undefeated team in Division II. The Lopers, ranked third in the nation, ran its win streak to 20 with home wins over Fort Hays (78-72) and Regis (74-62) last week. Brian Dunagan totaled 31 points, nine boards, eight assists and four steals in the two wins. For the season, Nick Svehla is second in the league in scoring (19.9 ppg) and sixth in rebounding (8.0 rpg). Nick Branting adds 15.4 points and 7.1 rebounds per night, while Mike Gitt tallies 12.6 points per contest. As a team, the Lopers lead the RMAC in field goal percentage (.535) and rank second in free throw percentage (.746). UNK is also the top offensive team in the league averaging 89.0 points per game, while it gives up 70.4 points per game.

LAST TIME VS. FORT HAYS (1/31/03): The Colorado Mines men’s basketball team had its school record 11-game winning streak snapped with a 78-72 loss to Fort Hays at Gross Memorial Coliseum. CSM raced out to a 20-8 lead at the 12:41 mark of the first half, but FHSU would outscore Mines, 28-12 over the remainder of the first half to claim a four-point lead (36-32) at the break. Mines claimed its largest lead of the second half as a layup by Stephen Bahl gave his squad a 56-51 advantage with 8:25 to play. However, the Tigers would go on an 8-2 run over the next three minutes to take the lead for good (59-58) with 5:07 remaining on a three-pointer by Jim Rhodes. Senior center Mike McNish led Mines with 19 points and 10 rebounds, while the Tigers were led by Melroy McKelvey who tallied 13 points and 11 rebounds.

LAST TIME VS. KEARNEY (2/1/03): The Nebraska-Kearney men’s basketball team connected on 42-of-69 shots (.609) and defeated Colorado Mines, 103-73, at the Health and Sports Center. CSM scored the first four points of the game, but UNK would grab the lead for good as a jumper by Richard Dionne gave the Lopers a 10-8 lead with 15:17 to play in the first half. Kearney would extend its lead to 45-23 at the half. Sophomore guard Stephen Bahl scored a team-high 20 points for Mines, while UNK was paced by Nick Svehla who recorded a double-double with game-highs in points (27) and rebounds (12).