DENVER - #9 Colorado School of Mines held off a late charge by Lubbock Christian to win its season opener, 82-78, in the Conference Challenge Tournament at Regis.

The Orediggers (1-0) were buoyed by the scoring of Luke Schroepfer and Ben Clare, who each had 17 points, and Ben Sonnefeld's 12-point, five-assist effort from the point. Foul shooting was huge for Mines down the stretch as they hit 18 of 21 tries.

The Chaps were led by Brennen Fowler's 23 points and nine rebounds.

Mines led from the opening and were up by double digits as late as the 10:46 mark of the second half before LCU began to pull closer with a 7-0 lead to cut the Mines advantage to 65-61 with 8:52 remaining. The Chaps kept it close from there, eventually taking their first lead of the game at the 2:25 mark after a pair of Fowler free throws and Jay Workman's layup off a Fowler steal made it 76-75. Clare answered with a layup to lead, but LCU's Marcos Schuster went to the line with 24 seconds left with a chance to go ahead. 

As it turned out, it would be the Chaps' only two missed free throws of the game (13-of-15) as Schuster missed both, and LCU was forced to foul after that with Clare going 4-for-4 at the line from there and Sonnefeld adding an insurance free throw with a second remaining.

The Orediggers head back to Regis on Saturday to play St. Mary's at 11:30 a.m.