Spearfish, SD – The Black Hills State University men's basketball team has moved into the regional rankings sitting at eighth in the south central region. This comes as they return home to face #10 in the Region UCCS on Friday night at 7:30pm and #7 in the region CO School of Mines on Saturday at 6:00pm.

The Yellow Jackets enter the weekend 10-5 and 7-2 in RMAC play. They haven't lost since December seventh and are on a seven game win streak moving them into third in the RMAC standings. The Yellow Jackets currently have one of the best shooting percentages in the league. They lead the conference hitting 50 percent of their shots from the field. Joel Scott leads the team in shooting and has the fifth highest PPG in the RMAC with 17.1. He leads the conference in accuracy making 61 percent of his shots from the field.

Tyler Oliver is putting up impressive rebounding numbers. He is sixth in the nation with his 7.6 defensive rebounds per game. He is currently second in the RMAC with 8.3 overall boards per game. He is also averaging 4.4 assists a game, the third most in the conference.

Scouting the Mountain Lions (10-4, 6-3 RMAC)
UCCS is currently on a three game win streak. The team leads the RMAC in multiple categories including fewest points allowed per game (67.4), blocked shots (72), blocked shots per game (5.1), and offensive rebounds per game (11.8). Padiet Wang is the Mountain Lions big scorer averaging 15.8 points per game. The Mountain Lions lead the series 9-7 with the Yellow Jackets winning the last match up 79-76 in Spearfish.

Scouting the Orediggers (11-5, 7-2 RMAC)
Colorado School of Mines upset #13 Dixie State two weeks ago and swept RMAC play last weekend defeating Adams State 90-64 and Fort Lewis 86-77. Mason Baker is the player to watch. He is averaging 17 points per game. BHSU will have to watch out for the three point attempt, Mason hits 38% of his three-pointers and CO Mines is second in the RMAC making 39 percent of their three attempts. The Orediggers lead the series 12-7. In the two teams last meeting, the Yellow Jackets won 86-77 in Golden, CO.