Colorado School of Mines at Metro State
Friday, January 19, 2007 - 7:00 pm
Denver, Colo.

Colorado School of Mines at Colorado Christian
Saturday, January 20, 2007 - 7:00 pm
Lakewood, Colo.

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THE HEAD COACH: Pryor Orser is in his sixth year as the head coach of the Colorado School of Mines men’s basketball team. He claims an overall record of 69-83, including a 41-61 mark in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference games. Last season, Orser led the Orediggers to a 15-14 record and a berth in the semifinals of the RMAC Shootout. for the first time since 1996. CSM’s win at Fort Lewis in the quarterfinals marked the first Oredigger win in the tournament since 1996. It was also the third time in the last four years that Orser led CSM to the RMAC Shootout Tournament. Orser has coached a total of 14 All-Conference players at CSM, including four Freshmen of the Year, most recently Kyle Pape a season ago. In addition, he has coached an All-Region and All-American player in Stephen Bahl. 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
3 Kyle Pape G 6-2 So. Iolani, Hawaii 14.2 3.9 2.9
5 Casey O’Hayre G 5-11 So. Littleton, Colo. 5.1 1.8 2.9
23 Franklin Ryk G 6-4 Sr. Fort Collins, Colo. 12.2 3.2 2.0
44 Ian Elseth F 6-8 Sr. Grants Pass, Ore. 12.6 5.8 0.7
52 Davey Iverson F 6-6 Sr. Winnett, Mont. 6.5 4.4 1.6

No. Off the Bench Pos Ht. Yr. Hometown PPG RPG APG
10 Robert Trujillo G 5-9 Fr. Denver, Colo. 0.9 0.4 0.4
22 Garrett Mehl G 6-2 Sr. Crete, Neb. 0.5 0.9 0.7
31 Grant Gunhus G 6-3 So. Fargo, N.D. 6.6 2.4 1.1
33 Clayton Moores F 6-8 Sr. Denver, Colo. 5.4 7.0 1.2
42 Ben Mohr C 6-6 Jr. Colo. Springs, Colo. 5.5 4.0 2.0
55 Danny Iverson C 6-9 So. Winnett, Mont. 1.3 1.5 0.2

CSM PICKED THIRD IN RMAC PRESEASON POLL: The Colorado School of Mines men’s basketball team was picked third in the 2006-07 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Men’s Basketball East Division Preseason Poll. The Orediggers received 41 total points to finish behind East Division favorite Nebraska-Kearney and runner-up Metro State. CSM was followed by Regis, Colorado Christian, Chadron State and UC-Colorado Springs.

UP NEXT: CSM will return home to host Johnson & Wales at 7:00 pm on Tuesday. Next Friday, the Orediggers will host Chadron State and 8:00 pm and the following night, CSM will host Nebraska-Kearney at 8:00 pm. All three games will be in Volk Gym.

LAST WEEK: The Orediggers split a pair of home games as they lost to CSU-Pueblo, 55-46, on Friday night, but came back to defeat Adams State, 59-58, on Saturday night. In the loss to CSU-Pueblo, sophomore guard Kyle Pape and senior forward Ian Elseth scored 14 points apiece. In Saturday’s win, the Orediggers rallied from a 58-50 deficit with 1:30 to play and won the game on Pape’s high arching shot in the lane at the buzzer. Elseth led the way with 14 points and eight boards.

ABOUT METRO STATE: The Roadrunners are 13-2 overall (6-1 RMAC) and have won six straight games. Michael Bahl, the younger brother of former CSM standout and current assistant coach Stephen, leads the team with 16.2 points and 3.9 rebounds per game. Benas Veikalas (10.3 ppg) and Jesse Wagstaff (10.0 ppg) also score in double figures, while Marquise Carrington has dished out a team-best 68 assists. Metro State shoots 49 percent from the floor, 43 percent from three-point land and 72 percent at the foul line.

ABOUT COLORADO CHRISTIAN: CCU enters the week at 5-8 overall and 2-5 in the RMAC. Brian Stamer leads the squad in scoring (18.5 ppg) and rebounding (9.9 rpg), while Jordan Long (12.2 ppg) and Peter Bailey (12.0 ppg) also score in double digits. As a team, the Cougars are shooting 45 percent from the field, 39 percent from three-point land and 69 percent at the charity stripe.

THE STYLIN’ HAWAIIAN: Sophomore guard and Hawaii native Kyle Pape was named to the Preseason All-RMAC East Division Team after earning RMAC Freshman of the Year and Honorable Mention All-RMAC East Division accolades last season. Pape scored a career-high 36 points in a Dec. 15 win over New Mexico Highlands, including 27 in the second half. He ranks 15th in the RMAC in scoring (14.2 ppg), 15th is assists (2.9 apg), 10th in three-pointers made per game (2.3) and second in minutes (34.2 mpg). Pape hit a high arching shot in the lane at the buzzer to give CSM a 59-58 win over Adams State on Saturday.

BE LIKE RYK: Senior guard Franklin Ryk has picked up just as he finished the 2005-06 season when he averaged 14.1 points and 4.6 rebounds per game over the final 10 games of the season. Ryk, who scored a season-best 21 points in a Dec. 16 win over Western New Mexico, is second on the team and 27th in the RMAC in scoring (12.2 ppg). He ranks second in free throw percentage (26-28 for .929).

IN THE PAINT: Senior forward Ian Elseth will once again be counted on to score in the paint. Elseth, who missed the first five games due to injury, made his first appearance of the season on Dec. 7 at Western State. He tallied a career-best 25 points in a Dec. 30 win over St. Francis (Ill.) and has scored in double digits six of the last seven games.

FAMILY TIES: Senior forward Davey Iverson is the older brother of sophomore center Danny Iverson. Davey is a three-year letterwinner at CSM, while Danny is coming of a season in which he redshirted. Davey ranks fifith in the RMAC in blocked shots (1.0 bpg).

GIVE US MOORES: Senior forward Clayton Moores has had a strong season as he is posting 5.4 points and a team-best 7.0 rebounds per game, which ranks sixth in the RMAC. He has three double digit rebounding games, including a career-high tying 13 in the season opening win over Northwest Nazarene. Moores is also fourth in the conference in blocked shots (1.1 bpg).

AND EVEN MOHR: Junior forward Ben Mohr is averaging 5.5 points and 4.0 rebounds in 13 games this season. Mohr is back to 100 percent after missing the final nine regular season games last year and returning for the two RMAC Tournament games.

GRANT THE GUNNER: Sophomore guard Grant Gunhus has picked up his game from a year ago. In 19 minutes per game off the bench this year, Gunhus is averaging 6.6 points per game and is shooting 34 percent from three-point land. In a Dec. 1 win over S.D. Tech, Gunhus scored a career-high 17 points, all of which came in the second half. Last year, he averaged 2.0 points in just six minutes per game.

OUT OF THE PADS, ONTO THE COURT: Senior guard Garrett Mehl, the starting quarterback of the CSM football team in 2006, is part of the basketball team for the first time in his career. Mehl finished his football career with 3,057 passing yards and 18 touchdowns and 846 rushing yards and 14 more scores.

CASEY ON THE COURT: Sophomore guard Casey O’Hayre has been solid since being pulled out of his redshirt year nine games into last season. O’Hayre, who scored a career-high 15 points in a Jan. 5 loss at Fort Lewis, is averaging 5.1 points and 1.8 rebounds. He is second on the team with 40 assists.

DIGGER “D”: The Orediggers have played some stout defense to open the season. The squad ranks first in the RMAC in scoring defense (61.6 ppg) and blocked shots (3.6 bpg) opponent field goal percentage (.419). CSM has allowed just two teams to break 70 points in a game this year.

HOME SWEET HOME: CSM’s loss to CSU-Pueblo on Friday was the first home loss for the Orediggers. CSM is now 7-1 at home this season. Two seasons ago, the Orediggers were 15-1 at home. Overall, CSM has won 30 of its last 38 games in Volk Gym.