COLORADO SCHOOL OF MINES
MEN'S BASKETBALL NOTES #12

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Colorado School of Mines vs. Chadron State
Friday, February 20, 2004
8:00 pm • Golden, Colorado

Colorado School of Mines vs. #4 Metro State
Saturday, February 21, 2004
8:00 pm • Golden, Colorado

No. Probable Starters Ht. Yr. Hometown PPG RPG APG
3 Kevin Wagstaff 5-10 So. Colorado Springs, Colo. 10.0 1.7 2.7
11 Stephen Bahl 5-10 Jr. Broomfield, Colo. 20.9 2.3 2.7
20 Matt Luedtke 6-0 Jr. Ronan, Mont. 17.7 5.0 1.7
32 Ryan McKay 6-8 Fr. Halstead, Kan. 4.0 3.4 0.6
52 Davey Iverson 6-6 RFR Winnett, Mont. 7.8 5.8 0.7

No. Off the Bench Ht. Yr. Hometown PPG RPG APG
10 Ross Shaeffer 5-10 Fr. Casper, Wyo. 1.1 0.7 1.1
22 Bill Hadley 6-0 So. Littleton, Colo. 0.7 0.2 0.0
23 Ross Rhinehart 6-4 So. Highlands Ranch, Colo. 2.1 1.4 0.9
30 Matt Witwer 6-5 Fr. Minot, N.D. 1.8 1.4 0.5
33 Clayton Moores 6-8 Fr. Denver, Colo. 4.2 3.3 0.5
40 Casey Schmitz 6-6 Fr. Williston, N.D. 2.5 2.4 0.2
42 Dale Fallon 6-3 Fr. Guymon, Okla. 1.7 1.8 0.4
55 Bryan Carruthers 6-0 Fr. Longmont, Colo. 0.5 0.3 0.5

THE HEAD COACH: The 2003-04 season will mark Pryor Orser’s third year as the head men’s basketball coach at Colorado School of Mines. Last year, Orser led CSM to one of the best seasons in school history as the team posted an overall record of 18-10, including a 12-7 mark in the RMAC. Mines also advanced to the RMAC Tournament for the first time since 1999 where it was knocked off at Fort Hays State in the opening round. In his first season at the helm, Orser led the Orediggers to an overall record of 5-21, including a 3-16 mark in the RMAC. Prior to coming to CSM, Orser served one year as the assistant men’s basketball coach at the University of Montana in Missoula. Orser received his Bachelors of Science in Business Administration–Finance with minors in Economics and History in 1990 from Eastern Montana College and his Masters of Education in 1995 from Montana State University-Billings. 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, an assistant to the men’s basketball program, and a physical education instructor. At Northwest, Orser led the women’s squad to the most wins in school history (22) during his fourth and final season. It was an improvement of 20 games from his first season at the school. Orser also served a two-year stint as the assistant men’s coach and the assistant sports information director at Carroll College in Helena, Mont., and a three-year position as the men’s assistant at Montana State University at Billings. A graduate of Gardiner High School in Gardiner, Mont., Orser received Class C State MVP honors as a senior in 1985. He lettered four years at MSU – Billings as the team went to the NCAA II tournament twice in Orser’s collegiate career, including a trip to the 1987 NCAA Division II Final Four.

MINES PICKED FOURTH IN PRESEASON RMAC POLL: The Colorado School of Mines men’s basketball team was picked fourth out of seven teams in the Preseason RMAC East Division Poll. Metro State was picked to win the East Division with 13 points and 13 first place votes. The Roadrunners were followed by Nebraska-Kearney (30), Fort Hays State (35), Mines (50), Regis (66), Chadron State (69) and Colorado Christian (80). Individually, junior guards Stephen Bahl and Matt Luedtke were named to the Preseason All-RMAC East Division Team.

UP NEXT: CSM will conclude its regular season with home games against Colorado Christian and Regis at 8:00 pm in Volk Gymnasium next Tuesday and Thursday.

LAST TIME OUT (2/14/04): Colorado Mines junior guard Stephen Bahl scored a game-high 29 points and dished out four assists, but the Orediggers were dealt a 98-80 setback at eighth-ranked Nebraska-Kearney’s Heath & Sports Center on Saturday night. CSM junior guard Matt Luedtke added 19 points and four rebounds and redshirt freshman forward Davey Iverson produced 13 points and five boards. Mines shot 14-of-27 from three point land for the game.

ABOUT CHADRON STATE: The Eagles are 8-15 overall and 4-11 in RMAC play having lost at home to Metro State and at Regis last week. Jeremy Wissing leads the team in scoring (13.6 ppg) and tallies 4.5 rebounds per game. Elijah Collins averages 13.4 points and a team-best 5.7 boards per game and Adisa Tobin produces 8.7 points and 4.1 rebounds per night.

LAST TIME vs. CHADRON STATE (2/5/04): Colorado School of Mines junior guard Stephen Bahl scored a game-high 32 points, but the Orediggers could not overcome a 50-26 halftime deficit and fell at Chadron State, 90-74. Bahl also grabbed three rebounds, notched three steals and dished out two assists, while the Eagles were paced by Eric Griffo who produced 16 points and nine boards off the bench.

ABOUT METRO STATE: The Roadrunners enter the week ranked fourth in the nation and on an NCAA Division II best 19-game winning streak. Last week, MSCD won at Chadron State and at Regis. For the season, five Roadrunners score in double figures, led by Lester Strong who posts 12.2 points and a team-best 6.9 rebounds per game. Mark Worthington averages 12.2 points and 4.1 boards per game and Luke Kendall produces 12.3 points per night and leads the RMAC with 71 steals.

LAST TIME vs. METRO STATE (2/7/04): The Colorado School of Mines men’s basketball team dropped a 94-59 decision at fifth-ranked Metro State Saturday night in Junior guard Stephen Bahl scored a team-high 20 points to lead the Orediggers, while junior guard Matt Luedtke added 16 markers and five boards. Lester Strong led the Roadrunners with 26 points and six boards.

FARRIS’ YEAR OFF: Forward Farris Broussard will miss this season and redshirt due to injury. He is slated to return for the 2004-05 season to play his senior season.

MILESTONE REACHED: Junior guard Stephen Bahl reached a milestone in a loss to Central Washington on Nov. 28 when he scored his 1,000th career point. He has now scored 1,400 points during his time at Mines, needing 332 more to move into fifth place all-time.

HE’S A “BAHL”ER: Junior guard Stephen Bahl is one of the top returning players in the conference and region this season. Last year, he led the RMAC in scoring (22.2 ppg) en route to First Team All-RMAC and Second Team All-Region honors. Bahl was honored as a Preseason Honorable Mention All-America by Street and Smith’s this season. He is currently second in the RMAC in scoring at 20.9 points per game and leads the team with 32 steals and 61 assists.

AlL IN THE FAMILY: Junior guard Stephen Bahl played his first of two games against his younger brother, Michael, a freshman at Metro State on Feb. 7 and will play the second on Saturday. In addition, Bahl has an older brother, Matt, who is a senior at Colorado College, and an older sister, Jenny, who played at and graduated from Regis.
LOVE THOSE EAGLES: Junior guard Stephen Bahl will love to see the Chadron State Eagles come to town on Friday. In his last two games against the Eagles, Bahl has scored 32 and 31 points (both on the road). In five career games against Chadron, he is averaging 20.6 points per game and has hit 14 three pointers.

STREAK OF FIVE: Junior guard Matt Luedkte has put together a nice stretch of five games in which he is averaging 20.2 points, 5.6 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game. He is fourth in the RMAC in scoring and leads the conference with 68 three-pointers.

WHAT’S THE POINT: Sophomore point guard Kevin Wagstaff is anchoring the CSM offense for the second striaght year after being named the RMAC Newcomer of the Year last season. He posted a career-best 22 points in in a loss at Western State on Dec. 12.

DYNAMIC DUO: Junior guards Stephen Bahl and Matt Luedtke combine to form the highest scoring duo from one team in the RMAC at 38.6 points per game. Bahl is second in the league in scoring (20.9 ppg), while Luedtke is fourth (17.7 ppg).

DYNAMIC TRIO: Guards Stephen Bahl,Matt Luedtke and Kevin Wagstaff have provided much of the offense for Mines this year. The group is responsible for 67.2 percent of the Oredigger points this year. In two losses last weekend, the group combined for 119 of the 157 points the team scored.

NOT ALLEN, BUT DAVEY WILL DO: Redshirt freshman forward Davey Iverson has had an outstanding start to his career. In his first collegiate game, Iverson posted a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds and added three assists. He is fourth on the team in scoring (7.8 ppg) and ranks 13th in the RMAC in rebounding (5.8 rpg) and 14th in blocked shots per game (0.8 bpg).

WE WANT MOORES: Freshman center Clayton Moores has been solid in his first collegiate season. He is averaging 4.2 points and 3.3 rebounds per game and leads the team with 25 blocked shots, which ranks sixth in the conference. In a Dec. 17 win over Northern Colorado, Moores set career-highs with nine rebounds and four blocked shots.

CASEY ON THE COURT: Freshman center Casey Schmitz had a career night in a 71-51 win at New Mexico Highlands on Jan. 10. Schmitz finished with a career-high 12 points and four rebounds.

YOUNG DIGGERS: The CSM roster features just four players who began the season with experience playing college basketball and eight players who are in their first season.