DENVER, Colo. – A night after shooting over 42 percent from the field in a victory, the Black Hills State University men's basketball team ran into a stiff opponent in Regis University, falling 69-53. The Rangers held BHSU to just a 29.6 percent shooting percentage in the first half and 34.8 percent (16-of-46) for the game in the Yellow Jackets season finale.
Regis (20-8, 14-8 RMAC) began the day playing for a home game in the RMAC Tournament and jumped all over the Yellow Jackets opening an 18-0 lead. The first Black Hills State points came as Fraser Malcolm found Sam McCloud in the paint for the easy bucket.
Black Hills State then cut into the Ranger lead and bringing it down to 14 points at 24-10 with 10:44 remaining in the game. LD Thomas hit a short jumper for the Yellow Jackets 10th point.
However, Regis entered halftime with a 46-22 lead.
In the second half, Black Hills State went on a quick 5-0 run behind a free throw from Thomas and four-straight points from Fraser Malcolm. The sophomore hit a pair of free throws with 17:37 remaining to make the score 48-27.
With the clock running down, BHSU went on a 6-0 run to end the game with a layup from Stefan Desnica, a jumper from Antonio Capley and two more free throws from Thomas for the final score of 69-53.
Fraser Malcom scored in double digits for the 23rd time of 2016-17 with a team high 13 points. He added five rebounds, three steals and three assists for the all-around game. The Rangers were led by Noah King with 15 points on 4-of-5 shooting.
Black Hills State concludes its season with a 9-19 record and 6-16 in the RMAC, including winning two of its last three games. The Yellow Jackets swept the season series over Colorado Mesa and Chadron State along with beating their first-ever ranked opponent when they took down then No. 18 Colorado Mines. The Orediggers went on to win the RMAC Championship this year.
With the conclusion of the season, the career of Max Mueller has ended with the exhaustion of his NCAA eligibility. Mueller ends his two-year career with Black Hills State averaging 6.2 rebounds over his 54 career games.
