COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. ---The South Dakota School of Mines men's basketball team played one of its best games of the season Saturday night, going toe-to-toe with the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference's second-best in the University of Colorado Colorado Springs in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Trailing by one point with 4.6 second left, 79-78, the Hardrockers had one last buzzer-beater attempt from Mitchell Sueker but was just off the mark as the Mountain Lions held on for their 10th straight win.

With the game tied, 78-78, UCCS was setting up for the last possesion of the game with less than 30 second remaining in regulation. UCCS's Padiet Wang drove the lane as time was expiring and drew a foul. He missed the front end, but converted the second free throw attempt to pull ahead for the eventual outcome.

It was quite a chess match that saw the scored tied six times throughout the night and seven different lead changes.

SD Mines got off to a fast start and held a five-point edge in the early going before UCCS settled in. The Mountain Lions did take a one-point advantage heading into halftime, 39-38. Both teams posted 40 points over the final 20 minutes.

They continued an offensive surge in the second half and had built a 10-point lead midway through the period and held the edge, 60-50 at the 13:18 mark before SD Mines regroup and erased the deficit to set up the dramatic ending.

The Hardrockers finished the night shooting 48.4 percent from the field connecting on 31-64 attempts, including 4-12 from three-point land. They converted 12-18 on free throws, hauled in 37 rebounds, collected 10 assists, six steals and one block.

The Mountain Lions made good on 27-58 buckets and shot 46.6 percent from the field. They hit 7-23 from the three-point line and connected on 18-22 from the foul line, brought down 32 rebounds, had seven steals, six blocks and 19 assists.

Individually for the Hardrockers, Logan Elers had an outstanding performance leading all scorers with 21 points and came down with seven rebounds, had two assists and one steal.
Sueker ended with 16 points, six rebounds, one steal and one assists while Allec Williams and Damani Hayes had 13 points each.