Spearfish, S.D. – The Black Hills State men's basketball team had three players score in double digits, but fell to Colorado School of Mines (6-2, RMAC 3-1) 64-69 on Saturday night.

Brady Bisgaard led the Yellow Jackets for the second-consecutive night and tied his season-high with 19 points.  Tanner Adler recorded 16 points and Joey Mitchell added 14. Adler also led BHSU with six rebounds and Bisgaard had a game-high eight assists.   

 The Yellow Jackets found themselves in a quick hole in the first half, trailing 3-23 with 8:07 remaining. BHSU fought its way back with hot shooting from beyond the arc and went into halftime trailing just six points, 22-28. The Yellow Jackets went on a 19-5 run to end the first half.

"You just can't come out and dig yourself hole like we did," said head coach Bradd Schafer. "I thought we came out and we weren't ready to play. At the 10 minute mark in the first half, we kind of woke up and decided to compete. I thought we played well for the last 10 minutes."

In the second half, Colorado School of Mines continued its fine offensive play and increased its lead to 27-47. Once again, the Yellow Jackets fought back with shooting from Adler, Mitchell and Bisgaard. With 12 seconds remaining, Adler hit a 3-pointer to bring the Yellow Jackets within three, 64-67. That's the closest they would get and BHSU fell 64-69.  

"I thought the second half was kind of the same story and we came out flat again. The last 10 minutes I thought we really competed and chipped away at their lead," said Schafer. "We gave ourselves a chance and opportunity."

The Yellow Jackets shot 32.3 percent (20-of-62) from the floor and 13-of-32 from the behind the arc. BHSU won the turnover battle, forcing 23 turnovers and committing 14. The Yellow Jackets were outrebounded 30 to 45.  

"We just can't dig ourselves holes and we have to do a better job rebounding," said Schafer.

Colorado Mines shot 44.2 percent (23-of-52) and got to the free-throw line 25 times compared to the Yellow Jackets' 16. The Orediggers were led by Trevor Wages with 26 points and 21 rebounds.

The Yellow Jackets will travel back to Colorado next weekend to face off against No. 3 Metro State and Regis (Colo.).

"We went back to some of the mistakes that we were making before these last three games going into this weekend," said Schafer. "We just have to continue to get better and this week is going to be a good week to get back to work. We will come back next weekend and give it a go."