GOLDEN, Colo. - A strong close to the game helped Colorado School of Mines end up on the winning end of a see-saw battle with Adams State, 71-62, on Friday night.

Kobi Betts' 18 points paced the Orediggers (15-10, 13-8 RMAC) in the regular season's penultimate game, which featured 18 lead changes and 10 ties. The Grizzlies (12-15, 8-13 RMAC) led as as the 5:54 mark of the second half before Mines ended the game on a 15-4 run. 

Brendan Sullivan added 15 points and Adam Krasovec 11 as Mines shot .431 for the game. Kaelin Crane's 17 led the Grizzlies, who shot .407.

Both teams held stretches of the lead in the first half, and that continued into the second as neither team led by more than five until the waning minutes of the game. With ASU up 58-56 with under six minutes to go, Ben Boone canned a corner three-pointer to retake the lead, and Krasovec followed that off with a dump-off layup from Sullivan before Sullivan added his own basket to flip the lead to 63-58 with 2:56 remaining.

Krasovec drained a three-pointer from the top of the arc seconds later to go up eight, and after Malik Moore's three for the visitors cut Mines' lead to 66-62, the Orediggers were put at the line where Betts, Boone, and Sullivan took care of business in the final 1:18. 

NOTABLES
- Justin Engesser led Mines bench scorers with nine, accounting for a key 6-0 run in the middle of the second half on a three-pointer and a three-point play. He also had seven rebounds.
- Betts, returning to the starting lineup for the first time in nearly a month, added five rebounds, two blocks, a steal, and an assist to his 18 points as he shot 7-of-13.
- Boone wound up with six assists to go with six points.
- Mines swept the season series from ASU and won their seventh in a row in the series.
- The Orediggers came into the night in sixth place in the RMAC but now could push as high as the #5 seed after Regis lost to CSU Pueblo on Friday night. Adams State was eliminated from RMAC Tournament contention with the loss.

NEXT UP
Mines hosts CSU Pueblo Saturday at 7 p.m. in the regular season finale.