GOLDEN, Colo. --- There was plenty of offense to go around Saturday afternoon in Golden, but it was Colorado School of Mines that was able to best Minnesota State 48-45 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

With the loss, MSU ends its season with a 10-3 record. With the win, Mines improves to 11-2 on the season and will take on Angelo State in the third round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday, December 6.

The Orediggers got the first score of the game as John Matocha connected with Max McLeod on a 71-yard touchdown pass to put Mines up 7-0. The Mavericks would respond with three touchdowns of their own to go up 21-7 by the end of the quarter.

Senior Alijah McGhee returned a Mines interception to the CSM two, before junior Shen Butler-Lawson ran it into the end zone. Butler-Lawson reached the end zone again on MSU's following drive as he raced in from 11 yards out. Junior Trey Vaval set up the Mavericks on the CSM 11 after he returned a CSM punt 57 yards. Sophomore Hayden Ekern connected with sophomore DJ Barber on a six-yard touchdown pass to put MSU up 21-7 as the first quarter came to an end.

The second quarter saw three touchdowns from Mines and one from the Mavericks to bring the score to 28-28 as both teams went into the locker room. Josh Johnston caught a pair of touchdown passes from Matocha from 19 and 45 yards out. Matocha also recorded a six-yard touchdown run of his own.

The third quarter saw the Orediggers build a 38-31 lead. Mines saw Matocha connect with Johnston on a three-yard touchdown pass, before Jacob Click connected on a 34-yard field goal. Sophomore Damian Chowaniec connected on a 37-yard field goal for the Mavericks as well.

The Mavericks and the Orediggers exchanged touchdowns early on in the fourth quarter. Michael Zeman recorded a two-yard touchdown run for the Mavericks before Ekern connected with freshman Jake Cicero on a four-yard touchdown pass to bring the score to 45-38 in favor of Mines with 5:53 to go. Click would put the Orediggers up 48-45 as he connected on a 30-yard field goal.

The Mavericks would not quit and Ekern hooked up with freshman Isaiah Emanuel on a 66-yard touchdown pass to bring the score to 48-45 with 1:32 remaining. MSU could not recover the onside kick as Mines held on to the 48-45 win.

Ekern finished his day with a career-high 377 passing yards and four touchdowns. Barber posted a career-high 108 receiving yards and two touchdown catches also, while Emanuel tallied 117 receiving yards and one touchdown.

Butler-Lawson finished with 73 rushing yards and two touchdowns.

Junior Trent Carpenter led the Maverick defense with 10 tackles, while sophomore Jacob Daulton tallied nine, including one sack.

Matocha led Mines with 307 passing yards and four touchdowns, to go along with 106 rushing yards. Johnston caught three passes for 78 yards and three touchdowns.
 
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