Spearfish, S.D. – The Black Hills State University men's basketball team (5-18, 4-15 RMAC) came out focus and determination to notch a win over RMAC conference opponent Colorado Christian University.  While the Jackets did play another strong and competitive 40 minutes, they did ultimately lose the game, 81-73, as CCU capitalized on late free throws in the closing minutes of play.

The game was a fairly even contest as they traded shots with good, hard-nosed basketball all the way until the end when CCU continued to capitalize on open looks, while the shots weren't falling for BHSU on the other end. 

At no point did the lead stretch passed the 10-point mark, as the Yellow Jackets had many contributions on the night to keep it close all the way until the clock read zeros.  BHSU had three players score at least 15 points on the night. Junior guard, Tanner Adler (6-5 200 Deadwood, SD), led the way with 23-points on 10-of-18 shooting with just one three-pointer, six rebounds, and one assist. 

An encouraging night from sophomore guard, Brody Brisk (6-4 190 Rapid City, SD) saw him gather 17 points with three three-pointers, four rebounds, while going 4-for-4 from the free-throw line. Brisk provided a first half, surprising one-handed jam over a CCU defender that brought the crowd on their feet early on.  Junior forward, Cam Anderson (6-6 215 Gillette, Wyo.) followed Brisk's lead in the second half after driving the baseline and throwing a dunk down over two Cougar defenders for a two-handed slam.

The third leading scorer for the Yellow Jackets was junior guard, Joey Mitchell (6-1 180 Tulare, SD), who got 12 of his 15 points on the night in the second half to provide a spark for his team.  Mitchell was 4-of-9 shooting with three three-pointers, and led the way with stout defense after gathering three steals.

The Cougars did have two players who scored at least 25 points on Saturday night.  Early on in the game, Michael Brown, shot 4-of-5 from three point land in the first half alone that helped him get to 25 points on 8-of-13 shooting, but BHSU limited him to only one three-pointer in the second half.

 Avery Redmond hit four three-point shots as well in the first half and added two more in the second to help him reach a game-high 26 points while being 6-of-12 from behind the arch. 

BHSU shot 43-percent on the night on 23-of-53 shooting and added 20 made free-throw shots after reaching the stripe 28 times.  CCU had a hot second half that led them to a 47 percent field goal percentage, while being 11-of-21 from three-point range.

The Yellow Jackets make their way south for their last road trip of the season when they take on Colorado State-Pueblo and UC-Colorado Spring on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 22-23.  They return home for the last game of the season on Senior Night versus Chadron St. on March 2, 2013 at 5:30 pm MT.