COLORADO SCHOOL OF MINES
MEN'S BASKETBALL NOTES #11

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Colorado School of Mines at Fort Hays State
Friday, February 13, 2004
8:00 pm • Hays, Kansas

Colorado School of Mines at Nebraska-Kearney
Saturday, February 14, 2004
8:00 pm • Kearney, Nebraska

No. Probable Starters Ht. Yr. Hometown PPG RPG APG
3 Kevin Wagstaff 5-10 So. Colorado Springs, Colo. 10.4 1.9 2.7
11 Stephen Bahl 5-10 Jr. Broomfield, Colo. 20.3 2.3 2.5
20 Matt Luedtke 6-0 Jr. Ronan, Mont. 17.3 5.1 1.6
32 Ryan McKay 6-8 Fr. Halstead, Kan. 4.2 3.6 0.6
52 Davey Iverson 6-6 RFR Winnett, Mont. 7.7 6.0 0.7

No. Off the Bench Ht. Yr. Hometown PPG RPG APG
10 Ross Shaeffer 5-10 Fr. Casper, Wyo. 1.1 0.7 1.2
22 Bill Hadley 6-0 So. Littleton, Colo. 0.7 0.2 0.0
23 Ross Rhinehart 6-4 So. Highlands Ranch, Colo. 2.0 1.3 1.0
30 Matt Witwer 6-5 Fr. Minot, N.D. 1.8 1.4 0.5
33 Clayton Moores 6-8 Fr. Denver, Colo. 4.3 3.3 0.5
40 Casey Schmitz 6-6 Fr. Williston, N.D. 2.5 2.6 0.2
42 Dale Fallon 6-3 Fr. Guymon, Okla. 1.5 1.7 0.2
55 Bryan Carruthers 6-0 Fr. Longmont, Colo. 0.5 0.3 0.5

THE HEAD COACH: The 2003-04 season will mark Pryor Orser’s third year as the head men’s basketball coach at Colorado School of Mines. Last year, Orser led CSM to one of the best seasons in school history as the team posted an overall record of 18-10, including a 12-7 mark in the RMAC. Mines also advanced to the RMAC Tournament for the first time since 1999 where it was knocked off at Fort Hays State in the opening round. In his first season at the helm, Orser led the Orediggers to an overall record of 5-21, including a 3-16 mark in the RMAC. Prior to coming to CSM, Orser served one year as the assistant men’s basketball coach at the University of Montana in Missoula. Orser received his Bachelors of Science in Business Administration–Finance with minors in Economics and History in 1990 from Eastern Montana College and his Masters of Education in 1995 from Montana State University-Billings. Orser’s previous coaching experience also includes a four-year tenure at Northwest College in Wyo., where he worked as the head of the women’s basketball program, an assistant to the men’s basketball program, and a physical education instructor. At Northwest, Orser led the women’s squad to the most wins in school history (22) during his fourth and final season. It was an improvement of 20 games from his first season at the school. Orser also served a two-year stint as the assistant men’s coach and the assistant sports information director at Carroll College in Helena, Mont., and a three-year position as the men’s assistant at Montana State University at Billings. A graduate of Gardiner High School in Gardiner, Mont., Orser received Class C State MVP honors as a senior in 1985. He lettered four years at MSU – Billings as the team went to the NCAA II tournament twice in Orser’s collegiate career, including a trip to the 1987 NCAA Division II Final Four.

MINES PICKED FOURTH IN PRESEASON RMAC POLL: The Colorado School of Mines men’s basketball team was picked fourth out of seven teams in the Preseason RMAC East Division Poll. Metro State was picked to win the East Division with 13 points and 13 first place votes. The Roadrunners were followed by Nebraska-Kearney (30), Fort Hays State (35), Mines (50), Regis (66), Chadron State (69) and Colorado Christian (80). Individually, junior guards Stephen Bahl and Matt Luedtke were named to the Preseason All-RMAC East Division Team.

UP NEXT: CSM return home for games with Chadron State and Metro State on Feb. 21-22. Both tipoff times are slated for 8:00 pm.

LAST TIME OUT (2/7/04): The Colorado Mines men's basketball team dropped a 94-59 decision at fifth-ranked Metro State Saturday night. Junior guard Stephen Bahl scored a team-high 20 points to lead the Orediggers, while Lester Strong notched 26 points and six boards to lead the Roadrunners.

ABOUT FORT HAYS STATE: The Tigers enter the week at 13-8 overall and 7-6 in conference play. Dominique Towns leads the team in scoring at 11.4 points per game and has notched a team-high 29 steals. Terrell Young posts 10.8 points and 7.0 boards per game, while Dontaz Dean averages 10.1 points and 7.0 rebounds per night.

LAST TIME vs. FORT HAYS STATE (1/30/04): The Colorado Mines men’s basketball team erased a 15 point halftime deficit, but fell victim to a key late turnover and fell to Fort Hays State, 76-72, in Volk Gymnasium. Trailing by as many as 20 points in the first half, and 42-27, at halftime, the Orediggers mounted a furious rally in the second half and claimed their first lead of the game (54-53) on a pair of free throws from junior guard Stephen Bahl with 10:22 to play. Neither team would claim a lead of larger than four points the rest of the way. The key moment in the game came when Tiger senior guard Dominique Townes hit a running jumper in the lane with 15 seconds left to make the score 76-72 in favor of the Tigers. The ensuing inbounds pass was stolen by FHSU’s LaJuan Christon and the Tigers would hang on to win despite missing four straight free throws in the final seven seconds. Bahl led all scorers with 23 points and Dontez Dean led the Tigers with 17 points and a game-high 12 rebounds.

ABOUT NEBRASKA-KEARNEY: The Lopers begin the week at 19-2 overall and 11-2 in conference play and ranked eighth in the nation. Nick Branting leads the RMAC at 22.3 points per game and also contributes a team-leading 7.4 boards per night. Will Taukiuvea (15.3 ppg), Brian Dunagan (13.4 ppg) and Dusty Jura (12.9 ppg) also score in double figures, while Chad Sheffield leads the RMAC in assists at 5.7 per night.

LAST TIME vs. NEBRASKA-KEARNEY (1/31/04): Nebraska-Kearney raced out to a 47-33 lead at the half and used a 28-point, eight rebound effort from Nick Branting to knock off Colorado Mines, 95-71, in Volk Gymnasium. Leading 26-24 with 7:11 to play in the first half, the Lopers proceeded to go on a 21-9 run to close the first half and take a 14 point advantage to the locker room. UNK maintained a double digit lead the entire second half. Mines received a double-double of 26 points and a career-high 12 rebounds from junior guard Matt Luedtke.

FARRIS’ YEAR OFF: Forward Farris Broussard will miss this season and redshirt due to injury. He is slated to return for the 2004-05 season to play his senior season.

MILESTONE REACHED: Junior guard Stephen Bahl reached a milestone in a loss to Central Washington on Nov. 28 when he scored his 1,000th career point. He has now scored 1,347 points during his time at Mines, needing 385 more to move into fifth place all-time.

HE’S A “BAHL”ER: Junior guard Stephen Bahl is one of the top returning players in the conference and region this season. Last year, he led the RMAC in scoring (22.2 ppg) en route to First Team All-RMAC and Second Team All-Region honors. Bahl was honored as a Preseason Honorable Mention All-America by Street and Smith’s this season. He is currently second in the RMAC in scoring at 20.3 points per game and leads the team with 29 steals.

AlL IN THE FAMILY: Junior guard Stephen Bahl played his first of two games against his younger brother, Michael, a freshman at Metro State on Saturday. In addition, Bahl has an older brother, Matt, who is a senior at Colorado College, and an older sister, Jenny, who played at and graduated from Regis.
LOVE THOSE LOPERS: Junior guard Matt Luedtke posted his second straight double-double against Nebraska-Kearney on Jan. 31 with 26 points and a career-high 12 boards. In three career games against the Lopers, Luedtke is averaging 15.0 points and 8.0 rebounds. He leads the RMAC in three-pointers made this season with 58.

AND THOSE EAGLES: Junior guard Stephen Bahl apparently loves to see the Chadron State Eagles. In his last two games against the Eagles, Bahl has scored 32 and 31 points (both on the road). In five career games against Chadron, he is averaging 20.6 points per game and has hit 14 three pointers.

WHAT’S THE POINT: Sophomore point guard Kevin Wagstaff is anchoring the CSM offense for the second striaght year after being named the RMAC Newcomer of the Year last season. He posted a career-best 22 points in in a loss at Western State on Dec. 12.

DYNAMIC DUO: Junior guards Stephen Bahl and Matt Luedtke combine to form the highest scoring duo from one team in the RMAC at 37.6 points per game. Bahl is second in the league in scoring (20.3 ppg), while Luedtke is fifth (17.3 ppg).

DYNAMIC TRIO: Guards Stephen Bahl,Matt Luedtke and Kevin Wagstaff have provided much of the offense for Mines this year. The group is responsible for 67 percent of the Oredigger points this year.

NOT ALLEN, BUT DAVEY WILL DO: Redshirt freshman forward Davey Iverson has had an outstanding start to his career. In his first collegiate game, Iverson posted a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds and added three assists. He is fourth on the team in scoring (7.7 ppg) and ranks 13th in the RMAC in rebounding (6.2 rpg) and 14th in blocked shots per game (0.8 bpg).

WE WANT MOORES: Freshman center Clayton Moores has been solid in his first collegiate season. He is averaging 4.3 points and 3.3 rebounds per game and leads the team with 24 blocked shots, which ranks sixth in the conference. In a Dec. 17 win over Northern Colorado, Moores set career-highs with nine rebounds and four blocked shots.

CASEY ON THE COURT: Freshman center Casey Schmitz had a career night in a 71-51 win at New Mexico Highlands on Jan. 10. Schmitz finished with a career-high 12 points and four rebounds.

YOUNG DIGGERS: The CSM roster features just four players who began the season with experience playing college basketball and eight players who are in their first season.