THE GAME - Fort Lewis

• Black Hills State and Fort Lewis met once last season with the Skyhawks sneaking away from the Young Center with an 80-73. Black Hills State led for over 27 minutes of action before the visitors took their first lead with 7:24 remaining. FLC was ranked No. 15 at the time.
• The Skyhawks enter Friday's game unranked for the first time all season after dropping out of the Top-25 when they lost to MSU Denver last weekend. FLC is 13-3 overall and 8-2 in the RMAC, owning a 5-0 home record.
• Preseason All-RMAC selection Rasmus Bach leads Fort Lewis with a 20.2 point per game average while Preseason Player of the Year Joshua Blaylock is second with 19.5 points per game. The duo is also first and second in the RMAC scoring.
• Fort Lewis, the defending RMAC Champions, advanced to the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament last season and was picked to finish second this year by the RMAC coaches.

THE GAME - Adams State

• The Grizzlies won by 16 points in Spearfish last season in a 74-68 final score behind nearly 60-percent shooting from the field while hitting 13 3-point baskets.
• Adams State enters the weekend 6-10 overall and 3-7 in the RMAC after losing six of its last seven games. However, the one victory was last weekend at MSU Denver, an 85-81 victory. 
• Brandon Sly leads the Grizzlies with 15.7 points per game while four others average double-digit scoring.

Looking AheaD

• Black Hills State plays its first Tuesday night game of the season this week with the Yellow Jackets traveling to Rapid City, South Dakota, for the rivalry game with South Dakota Mines. They Yellow Jackets and Hardrockers tangle at the Rushmore Plaza Civic Cener with a 7:30 p.m. tipoff. SD Mines swept the season series last year.

1,000-point watch

• Although he won't join the Yellow Jacket 1,000-point club until he reaches the milestone in a Yellow Jacket uniform, Zach McLemore has a chance to reach 1,000 post high school points as he tallied 787 points at Colorado Christian, including 441 points as a sophomore. Through 14 games with BHSU, McLemore has tallied a career total of 982 points.

Winless on the Road

• Black Hills State is 0-6 in the 2016-17 season on the road and looks to turn that around with its next four games on the road. BHSU started the 2014-15 campaign off with an 0-5 record in true away contests with another loss on a neutral court. The first victory on an opponents floor was December 20 at Regis when Myles Henry hit the game-winning basket with time expiring.

A View at the Top

• Having played Colorado Christian and CSU-Pueblo twice and met for the only time against Colorado Mines, the Yellow Jackets have played five games against schools that are currently in a tie for first place in the RMAC. The four-way tie also include this week's opponent Fort Lewis. The Yellow Jackets are 1-4 against the first place teams with the victory against No. 18 Colorado Mines.

Defense, Defense & Defense

• Black Hills State ranks highly in the nation in three defensive categories including 3-point field goal percentage defense. The Yellow Jackets rank 15th in the nation and lead the RMAC allowing just 29.7 3-point baskets to be made. The Green and Gold rank 23rd in scoring defense and 24th in field goal percentage defense. The 66.4 points per game the Yellow Jackets give up is second in the RMAC while the 40.4 percent of made field goals allowed leads the league.