Grizzlies snap 3-game slide with convincing 82-69 home win

ASC has won eight straight in Plachy

Seth Heinbaugh posts up during ASC's 82-69 win. He had a career-high 15 points on teh evening.

Box Score

ALAMOSA, Colo.— Redshirt freshman Seth Heinbaugh (Prescott, Ariz.) and junior Sean Amos (Philadelphia, Pa.) combined for 29 points off the bench as they and junior Vitor de Zoppa (Sorocaba, Sao Paulo, Brazil) matched a career-high with 17 more as the Adams State College Grizzlies dominated the inside game while posting a key 82-69 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference win over visiting Colorado School of Mines, Friday night in Plachy Hall.

The Grizzlies had four players in double-figures and another two with eight or more points as they shot 60.8 percent (31-51) from the floor while out-scoring the Orediggers, 50-28 in the paint.

Senior Marcus Mortensen (Cortez, Colo.) led ASC’s back-court with 15 points. He also had a game-high five assists while never leaving the floor in the victory that snapped a 3-game slide for the 10-5 Grizzlies, who went back above .500 in RMAC play with a 4-3 mark, just a half-game behind a 3-way tie for second place in the West Division.

The Orediggers, who received 20 points each from Ben Mohr and Kyle Pape, fell to 9-8 overall and to 2-5 in the RMAC.

Heinbaugh was 5-for-7 from the floor and also had six rebounds as he helped fill the gap for senior Rece Hampton (Greenwood, Miss.), who had eight points despite spending much of the game on the bench with foul trouble.

Amos, who also provided a spark off the bench, was 6-for-8 from the field. He also had six rebounds and three assists. Zoppa was 7-for-15 from the field and had six more boards as did senior Travis Carr, a solid 3-for-4 from the field and 2-for-3 from long distance territory.

The Grizzlies finished the game with a 35-27 rebounding edge and controlled it for the last 25 minutes of the game.

Leading just 27-25 after an 8-2 Oredigger run, the Grizzlies got a Heinbaugh layup with 4:34 to go as they went on a 7-0 spurt, capped by a Zoppa jumper, to go up 34-27.

Mortensen then had one of his several driving buckets as the first half expired putting the Grizzlies up 10 (41-31) going into the break.

An 8-2 run, highlighted by a Carr 3-pointer put the Grizzlies up 17 with 17:30 to go.

ASC never looked back and led by 12 or more the rest of the way as first-year coach Mark Murdock’s team shot 62.5 percent (15-24) in the second half alone.

Mohr, the only man in the RMAC to be averaging a double-double did much of his damage from the line as the senior forward was 12 of 16 from the stripe. He also had six rebounds to lead the Orediggers but was jut 4-for-10 from the floor.

Pape was 8-for-17 from the field and 3-for-7 beyond the arc in his 20-point effort.

Drew Hoffman, 5-for-9 on the night, was also in double figures for the Orediggers with 12 points.

The Grizzlies, winners of eight straight home games dating back to last year, now go on the road for three straight beginning Thursday (Jan. 17) at currently winless New Mexico Highlands (0-14, 0-6 RMAC). The game begins at 8 p.m. and can be heard on KSPK-FM (103.5 & 104.1 in Alamosa) and via the internet at www.kspk.com.