Colorado School of Mines vs. St. Martin's
Friday, November 25, 2005 - 3:00 pm
Haggen Court at Carver Gym - Bellingham, Wash.

Colorado School of Mines at Western Washington
Saturday, November 26, 2005 - 7:00 pm
Haggen Court at Carver Gym - Bellingham, Wash.

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THE HEAD COACH: Pryor Orser is in his fifth year as the head coach of the Colorado School of Mines men’s basketball team. He claims an overall record of 48-63, including a 29-47 mark in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference games. In 2004-05, he guided the squad to a 16-12 record (10-9 RMAC) and a berth in the RMAC Tournament. In addition, Orser guided CSM to a 74-71 upset of then No. 1-ranked Metro State on Jan. 22 in Volk Gym. He was instrumental in helping senior guard Stephen Bahl earn First Team All-RMAC, First Team All Region and Third Team All-American honors. In addition, he was also named the North Central Region Player of the Year. Orser has coached a total of 11 All-Conference players at CSM, including three Freshmen of the Year, most recently Ben Mohr a season ago.
Orser received his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with minors in Economics and History in 1990 from Eastern Montana College and his Masters of Education in 1995 from Montana State University-Billings. His previous coaching experience includes a four-year tenure at Northwest College in Wyo., where he worked as the head coach of the women’s basketball program and an assistant to the men’s basketball program. He also served a two-year stint as the assistant men’s coach at Carroll College in Helena, Mont., and a three-year stint as the men’s assistant at Montana State University at Billings.

No. Probable Starters Pos Ht. Yr. Hometown PPG RPG APG
10 Travis Test PG 5-11 Sr. Pierce, Neb. 8.5 3.5 4.0
3 Kyle Pape SG 6-2 Fr. Honolulu, Hawaii 5.5 2.5 2.0
23 Franklin Ryk SF 6-4 Jr. Fort Collins, Colo. 6.0 4.0 1.5
52 Davey Iverson PF 6-6 Jr. Winnett, Mont. 4.5 5.0 0.5
44 Ian Elseth C 6-8 Jr. Grants Pass, Ore. 10.0 6.5 2.0

No. Off the Bench Pos Ht. Yr. Hometown PPG RPG APG
11 Troy Sandley G 6-4 Fr. Eltham, Austrailia 0.0 0.0 0.0
20 Alex Hayman G 6-4 So. Sydney, Austrailia 4.5 1.5 0.0
22 Bill Hadley G 6-0 Sr. Littleton, Colo. 0.0 0.0 0.0
30 Matt Witwer F 6-5 So. Minot, N.D. 0.0 0.0 0.0
31 Grant Gunhus G 6-3 Fr. Fargo, N.D. 1.5 2.0 0.5
32 Ryan McKay F 6-8 So. Halstead, Kan. 0.0 0.0 0.0
33 Clayton Moores C 6-8 Jr. Denver, Colo. 7.0 4.5 2.0
40 Cody Clickner F 6-8 RFR Denver, Colo. 0.0 0.0 0.0
42 Ben Mohr F 6-6 So. Colo. Springs, Colo. 6.0 4.0 1.0

CSM PICKED FIFTH IN RMAC PRESEASON POLL: The Colorado School of Mines men’s basketball team was picked fifth in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference East Division Preseason Poll with 62 total points. Metro State was tabbed No. 1 with 21 points and seven first place votes to narrowly edge Nebraska-Kearney who received 22 points and six first place votes. They were followed by Fort Hays State (34 points and one first place vote), Regis (50), Colorado School of Mines (62), Chadron State (70) and Colorado Christian (85).

UP NEXT: CSM will return to action next week with a pair of games at home in Volk Gym. The Orediggers will host Bethany Lutheran at 8:00 pm Friday and Gwynedd Mercy on Saturday at 8:00 pm.

LAST WEEK: The Colorado School of Mines men’s basketball team knocked off a pair of preseason nationally-ranked opponents in Volk Gym to open the 2005-06 season. On Friday night, CSM handed 13th-ranked Nebraska-Omaha a 55-52 setback and came back on Saturday to defeat 24th-ranked Pittsburg State, 52-39.

AGAINST UNO: CSM held a 52-42 lead with 5:31 to play, but the Mavericks pulled to within 54-52 with 26 seconds to play on a free throw by Michael Jenkins. CSM junior guard Franklin Ryk then hit the front end of a 1-and-1 before missing the second. UNO had a chance to tie the game with a three-pointer, but could not hit as time expired. CSM junior forward Ian Elseth led the Orediggers with 10 points and six rebounds.

AGAINST PITT STATE: CSM led Pitt, 28-21 at the half, but, the Gorillas sliced the lead to 30-29 with 13:39 to play in the game on a layup from Eddie Jackson. However, the Orediggers responded by outscoring Pitt, 14-4, over the next 10 minutes to take a 44-33 lead with 3:12 to play. CSM was led by junior guard Franklin Ryk who scored a game-best 11 points, while junior center Ian Elseth added 10 points and seven boards.

ABOUT ST. MARTIN’S: The Saints, led by second-year Head Coach Keith Cooper, are 1-2 this season with the lone win a 77-69 triumph over RMAC school Regis on Saturday night. Niko Nunogawa leads the team in scoring (16.0 ppg) and rebounding (5.0 rpg) this season. Stephon Harris (12.7 ppg) and Brendan Campbell (11.3 rpg) are also scoring in double figures. As a team, the Saints are shooting 48 percent from the field and 71 percent from the free throw line.

ABOUT WESTERN WASHINGTON: Western Washington, which was ranked in the top five in the nation in a pair of preseason publications, is led by 21st-year Head Coach Brad Jackson. The Vikings are 1-1 on the young season with a 95-94 win over Emporia State and a 91-88 loss to BYU-Hawaii. Grant Dykstra leads the team in scoring at 26.0 points per game and is tied for the rebounding lead at 6.0 rpg. Ryan Diggs is averaging 20.5 ppg, while Tyler Amaya is posting 13.5 points and 6.0 rebounds per night. As a team, the Vikings are shooting 51 percent from the field and 74 percent from the charity stripe.

BATTLE TESTED: Senior point guard Travis Test helped lead CSM to a pair of wins last weekend by helping to control the tempo. Test finished the two games by averaging 8.5 points, 3.5 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 2.5 steals per game. He also provided scrappy defense as he helped limit Nebraska-Omaha and Pittsburg State to a combined 30-of-102 (.294) effort from the field. In addition, he was instrumental in helping to shut down Pitt State Preseason All-American Eddie Jackson, who was just 2-of-17 from the floor on Saturday.

LESS IS NOT MOHR: Sophomore forward Ben Mohr returns after earning RMAC Freshman of the Year honors last season. It marked the third time in the last four seasons that a player from CSM had won the award. Mohr, who missed the last three games last season, averaged 13.4 points 7.2 rebounds per game over the last five games he played in last season and recorded 12 points and eight rebounds in CSM’s two wins last weekend.

IF I COULD BE LIKE RYK: Junior guard Franklin Ryk is the top returning scorer for CSM as he averaged 8.3 points per game last season. Ryk scored a CSM season high 11 points in Saturday’s win over Pitt State and added six rebounds in Friday’s win over Nebraska-Omaha.

HE’S NOT ALLEN, BUT: Junior forward Davey Iverson is back for his third year at CSM. The 6-foot-6 Iverson has played in all 57 games during his career and has averaged 6.4 points and 5.0 rebounds per game. He started all but one game as a freshman and came off the bench in all but one game last season.

WE WANT MOORES: Junior center Clayton Moores is back for his third season. He provided the Orediggers with a spark off the bench on Friday with eight points, six rebounds, three assists, two steals and two blocks in 19 minutes.

LOOKS GOOD ON “PAPE”R: Freshman guard Kyle Pape joins the Oredigger program as the Gatorade Player of the Year from Hawaii. Pape averaged 20.2 points and helped lead Iolani High School to a fourth straight State Title last season by scoring 93 points in three state tournament wins.

HELP FROM THE NORTHWEST: Junior center Ian Elseth, who played at Snow Junior College last season and at Oregon State in 2001-02, had a nice start to his CSM career as he averaged 10.0 points and 6.5 rebounds per game last weekend. In high school, Elseth was named to the All-State First Team along with former Arizona standout Salim Stoudamire, currently with the Atlanta Hawks in the NBA, and furture Kansas stars Aaron Miles and Michael Lee. Miles is currently playing with the Golden State Warriors in the NBA.

THE AUSTRALIAN DUO: The CSM roster features a pair of student-athletes from Australia. Sophomore guard Alex Hayman is from Sydney, while freshman guard Troy Sandley is from Eltham.

STARTING TEAM USA: The five probable starters for CSM all hail from different states; Colorado, Hawaii, Nebraska, Montana and Oregon.

DIGGER “D”: The Orediggers flashed some outstanding defense in two wins last weekend. CSM limited Nebraska-Omaha and Pittsburg State to a combined30-of-102 (.294) shooting from the field, including 5-of-31 (.161) from three-point range. CSM also forced 45 turnovers and had 21 steals and 11 blocked shots.