The No. 6 Colorado School of Mines Orediggers were lights-out from long range on Saturday, as the Chadron State College men’s shooters went cold, and the visitors triumphed 83-61 in the Chicoine Center.

“Colorado School of Mines is the number six team in the country,” said CSC Head Coach Houston Reed. “They came out and got a big lead on us early. They have a couple bigs who are as good as any in the league, and then another couple on their bench, and they were able to isolate our guys, get them in foul trouble, and take some options away from us as the game progressed.”

Two of the Eagles’ usual starters, Jeremy Ruffin and Michael Johnson, both fouled out early in the second half. The Orediggers led by only 12 up until around the 15-minute mark in the second half, when Ruffin picked up his final four infractions in under three minutes, and Johnson also exited the game with five just a minute before his teammate.

Mines was an impressive 10-of-19 from three-point range, while CSC could only hit one in 10 tries.

Chadron State only led once, early in a sluggish 5-4 start to the first quarter, but never regained the lead after the first five minutes of the game.

The Orediggers were led by 16 points from Mason Baker and 13 from Luke Schroepfer.

CSC’s Jaisean Jackson was the game’s leading scorer with 19. The junior guard was 6-of-12 from the field, and got to the free throw line far more than any other Eagle, going 7-for-12.

Chadron State resumes conference play on Monday, hosting Colorado Christian University.