RMAC Men's Basketball Tournament Semifinals
[2] #21/RV Fort Lewis vs. [6] Colorado Christian, Friday, 5 p.m. [TV: CET] [Live Video] [Live Stats]
[1] #14/11 Mines vs. [5] MSU Denver, Friday, 7:30 p.m. [TV: CET] [Live Video] [Live Stats]

RMAC Men's Basketball Tournament Final, Saturday, 7:30 p.m. [TV: CET] [Live Video] [Live Stats]

[Tournament Central]
 

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THE TOURNAMENT
#14/11 Colorado School of Mines has earned the right to host the finals of the 2017 RMAC Men's Basketball Tournament, which will be held Friday and Saturday at Lockridge Arena. Tickets for all contests are available at the door and are $10 for adults, and $5 for seniors and students. No season passes will be accepted for postseason play.

ON TV
Both semifinals and the final will air live on Comcast Entertainment Television (channel 105/900 on Front Range and Utah Comcast systems) as well as stream live on the RMAC Network.

HOW THEY GOT HERE
Top-seeded Mines advanced out of the quarterfinals with a 99-79 win over Adams State, using a huge second half to bust open a close game, while second-seeded Fort Lewis came back from 17 down to stave off UCCS' upset bid and win 92-85 in their quarterfinal. In a pair of upsets, fifth-seeded MSU Denver knocked off crosstown rival Regis 80-73, while sixth-seeded Colorado Christian stunned CSU-Pueblo on the road 54-52.

MINES VS. THE FIELD
The Orediggers are 5-0 versus the remaining RMAC Tournament field. Mines escaped CCU on the road 76-75 and beat them 89-76 at home, won 94-82 in overtime at Fort Lewis, and beat MSU Denver twice, 73-51 on the road and 89-57 at home last Saturday to clinch the RMAC regular-season title.

IN THE POLLS
Mines is ranked #14 by the NABC and #11 in the D2SIDA media poll this week. More importantly, the Orediggers took over the top spot in the NCAA South Central regional rankings this week, with the top eight teams making the NCAA Tournament and the top-ranked squad hosting the regional bracket.

THE CHAMPS ARE HERE
Colorado School of Mines sealed the outright RMAC regular-season championship over the weekend with a 19-3 conference record. Mines won a share on Friday night with a 79-63 win over UCCS, then took the outright championship Saturday with an 89-57 blowout win over MSU Denver. It marks the fifth regular-season championship in program history, four of them coming under Orser.

MINES EARNS RMAC HONORS
The Orediggers had three players make the all-RMAC squads on Tuesday, with head coach Pryor Orser being named the RMAC Coach of the Year. Gokul Natesan and Caleb Waitsman landed spots on the First Team, while Luke Schroepfer picked up Honorable Mention status.

NATESAN ON VERGE OF STEALS RECORD
As he enters the final stretch of his career, senior Gokul Natesan has put up historic numbers. He'll enter Friday's game with 233 career steals, one shy of tying Mike Ziegler's long-standing Mines record of 234 set between 1986 and 1990. On Tuesday, Natesan became the fifth player in program history to reach 1,900 career points, and he now has 1,912.

NATESAN GARNERS ACADEMIC HONORS
Gokul Natesan picked up a pair of major academic honors this week, being named CoSIDA First-Team Academic All-America on Wednesday and the RMAC Summit Award winner on Thursday. The Summit Award is given to the player at the finals site with the highest GPA; Natesan sports a 3.90 GPA working on a master's degree in computer science.