Men's Basketball | 2/16/2017 10:52:00 AM
THE GAME - Colorado Mesa
- Meeting for the second time this year, Black Hills State travels to Grand Junction, Colorado, to face Colorado Mesa University who is 7-18 overall and 6-13 in RMAC place.
- The Yellow Jackets won the first meeting between the two schools 73-61behind four Yellow Jackets in double-digit scoring. Fraser Malcolm led the way with 17 points while Connor O'Hearn scored a season-best 15 points. Max Mueller and LD Thomas each added 11 points apiece. Colorado Mesa was led by Connor Nichols with 13 points. The victory snapped an eight-game losing streak for BHSU.
- Colorado Mesa has dropped three-straight games including a 90-71 loss to Fort Lewis on Tuesday night. In the game, Kabir West tallied a team-high 18 points. CMU led briefly in the opening minutes before No. 11 Fort Lewis ramped up its offense and took a 7-6 lead with 15:04 remaining and ran away with the game.
- Before the three-game skid, the Mavericks picked up victories over South Dakota Mines 63-60 and Western State 99-97.
- Eimer Lopez leads CMU with 14.2 points per game while CJ Davis adds 13.5 points per contest. Kabir West and Connor Nichols each co-lead the team with 4.9 rebounds per game.
- On the CMU roster is former Yellow Jacket redshirt quarterback Trent Clay. Clay was a member of the football team in 2014 and has played in 10 games this year for the Mavericks averaging 4.0 points and 12.5 minutes per game.
LOOKING AHEAD
Following the single-game weekend, Black Hills State closes its 2016-17 season at Chadron State on Friday, February 24 and at Regis on Saturday, February 25. The Yellow Jackets defeated Chadron State 82-55 in the final game before the Holiday break but fell by a single point, 57-56, to Regis the before.
WINLESS ON THE ROAD
Black Hills State is 0-10 in the 2016-17 season 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, which was previously the worst road start in the NCAA era. The last victory away from the Young Center was February 19, 2016, at UCCS.
A LOOK AROUND THE RMAC
Black Hills State was officially eliminated from RMAC Tournament action with its loss to UCCS on February 4. Looking around the league, Fort Lewis and Colorado Mines are separated by 1.5 games with Fort Lewis sitting at 17-2 in league action. They can wrap up a share of the RMAC Regular Season Championship with a victory over Colorado Mines on Friday. CSU-Pueblo is two games back at 15-4. The Yellow Jackets face Colorado Mesa who is in 12th, one slot ahead of BHSU.
CONFERENCE ONLY STATS SEE SPIKES
Fraser Malcolm leads the team with just over 13 points per game scored throughout the season but has increased his output within RMAC play. The sophomore averages 14.6 points per game during league action, a total of 277 points.
Max Mueller has seen a similar spike in rebounds per game, with an average of 6.4 over the whole season but 7.1 in RMAC games .
THAT WAS A ROLL
Fraser Malcolm had quite a roll as he scored 23 points or more in three-straight games. The run began with a career-best 25 points in the Yellow Jackets victory over Western State. He followed with 23 points against MSU Denver and 23 more points against the University of Colorado Colorado Springs. He currently owns a total of 20 double-digit games scoring, a team best.
