|  Gm. 1/Gm. 2: Black Hills State (0-0) vs. No. 22 Colorado Mesa (2-0) | vs. Westminster (2-0) |
Black Hills State men's basketball is set to open its season, hosting No. 22 Colorado Mesa and Westminster this weekend.
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BHSU will face the Mavericks Friday at 7:30 p.m. and Westminster Saturday at 6 p.m.
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The Yellow Jackets finished last season with a 20-9 record, and 17-5 in conference to tie with Dixie State for a regular season championship before falling to South Dakota Mines 80-71 in the first round of the RMAC Tournament. During the season, they strung together a 13-game winning streak, including key wins against Colorado Mesa, Colorado Mines, and UC Colorado Springs, and a win at New Mexico Highlands.
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FRIDAY VS. COLORADO MESA
The Yellow Jackets last played the Mavericks Jan. 4, 2020 in Spearfish, winning 87-79 behind a 21-point effort from
Tyler Oliver and 18 points from
Joel Scott. Colorado Mesa won the RMAC Tournament last season after finishing the regular season with a 14-8 conference record (21-10 overall). After a first-round win over UCCS, CMU knocked off No. 1 seeded Dixie State in the semifinals to then face No. 3 Colorado Mines in the championship game. The Mavericks earned a 69-61 victory in the title game for the program's first RMAC title.
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SATURDAY VS. WESTMINSTER
The last time BHSU faced Westminster was Dec. 6, 2019, winning 65-64 behind 18 points from
Joel Scott. The Griffins finished the 2019-20 season with a 16-12 overall record, and 11-11 in the RMAC.
COACHES
Head coach
Ryan Thompson enters his third season heading the Yellow Jackets, boasting a 38-20 record over his first two seasons at the helm. He was named RMAC Coach of the Year last year after a 20-9 record and a regular season championship (tied with Dixie State).
Colorado Mesa Head Coach Mike DeGeorge is in his third season heading the Mavericks, holding an overall record of 42-20.
The Griffins are 55-25 under Head Coach Norm Parrish, who is in his sixth year atop the program after taking over in 2015.
ABOUT BLACK HILLS STATE
Before jumping to Division II, the Yellow Jackets had a lot of history at the NAIA level in the DAC, winning 14 conference championships. Since becoming a DII institution, BHSU has been improving, and has started to hit their stride over the last few years, last season taking a share as regular season conference champions with a 20-9 record. This year they look to take another step further under third-year head coach
Ryan Thompson.
ABOUT COLORADO MESA
The Yellow Jackets are 7-8 all-time against the Mavericks. First playing Dec. 1, 2012, BHSU lost six of its first seven meetings with CMU, but has since gone 6-2 over their last eight. The Yellow Jackets last lost to CMU Jan. 5, 2019, but have now won their last two. Colorado Mesa is currently ranked No. 22 nationally in the DII NABC Coaches Poll.
ABOUT WESTMINSTER
As a program, Black Hills State is 3-3 against Westminster since their first matchup on Jan. 1, 2016, a 68-63 win. The Yellow Jackets have had trouble with the Griffins over the last four meetings, going 1-3 against them, last winning Dec. 7, 2018 by the score of 88-55.
CONFERENCE ACCOLADES
Head coach
Ryan Thompson and now sophomore
Joel Scott were honored by the RMAC for standout 2019-20 seasons. Thompson was named 2019-20 RMAC Coach of the Year while Scott earned RMAC Freshman of the Year.
Tyler Oliver, 2019-20 senior, was named RMAC Defensive Player of the Week for the week of 12/16.
A FRIDAY BHSU WIN WOULD...
Give the Yellow Jackets their first win in a season-opener since defeating Yellow Stone Christian College 86-52 to open the 2017-18 season. BHSU went on to win their first three games of the year and finished that season 15-12, and 12-10 in the RMAC. Before that, their last season-opener win was in 2013 against Montana Tech (86-78, Nov. 13).
A FRIDAY BHSU LOSS WOULD...
Be the third-straight year BHSU has lost their season opener. However, the Yellow Jackets finished the 2019-20 season 20-9 after losing game one, and 18-11 in 2018-19 after losing the first game of the year. BHSU has lost their season opener in eight of the last ten seasons.
PRESEASON POLL
Black Hills State men's basketball tallied two first-place votes and was picked second in the 2020-21 RMAC Preseason Coaches Poll, released Tuesday afternoon.
The poll is voted on by all 15 head men's basketball coaches in the RMAC.
BHSU is coming off a shared 2019-20 RMAC regular season title with a conference record of 17-5. Head coach
Ryan Thompson led his team to a 20-9 overall record last year and will enter the 2020-21 season with a 38-20 record compiled over his first two seasons.
MAVERICKS' LAST TIME OUT
For the second time in as many nights the Colorado Mesa University men's basketball team came out on top, 83-68, over the Roadrunners of MSU Denver.
The win puts the Mavericks at 2-0 to start on the season, a feat that has not been accomplished since the 2010-11 season.
MSU got off the first shot of the night, but CMU would go up 15-5 off a three-pointer from Mac Riniker. From then on, the lead would stay in favor of the Mavs with the Roadrunners never getting within more than six.
With seconds remaining Christopher Speller headed to the free throw line, draining both attempts to put the team ahead by 10. MSU got a shot off at the buzzer but would not count after further review.
As the second half got underway, the Roadrunners were given a few too many second chances to score. With the MSU offense falling quiet, CMU propelled ahead maintaining their lead, going up by as many as 16. Speller would finish the second half at the foul line again, solidifying the 83-68 win.
Reece Johnson may be listed as a freshman, but he sure played like a veteran this weekend. Tonight, he led the scoring efforts with 17-points, adding five rebounds and five assists to his stat line.
Speller was just shy of a double-double with 15-points and nine rebounds. He also dished out seven assists.
David Rico, the lone senior to suit up this weekend was steady for CMU chipping in 12-points and nine rebounds, along with a pair of steals.
LAST MATCHUP: BHSU vs. CMU (Jan. 4, 2020)
Senior Tommy Nuno's career-high 36 points was not enough in a 87-79 overtime loss to the Black Hills State Yellow Jackets on Saturday at the Young Center in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference action.
Nuno scored 19 of his 36 points in the second half and finished the double-double with 12 rebounds. He was 13-for-19 from the field including 8-for-12 from the free-throw line while adding three steals. His previous career-high came against Black Hills State in the RMAC Tournament loss a year ago.
The Mavericks had a 68-66 lead with four seconds left when Yellow Jacket
Joel Scott layed one in to tie it at 68-68. Nuno's desperation three-point attempt rimmed off as the regulation horn sounded.
Black Hills State outscored Colorado Mesa 19-11 in the overtime period to seal the win.
The biggest discrepancy in the game where the Yellow Jackets had a 42-22 advantage that helped lead to a 56.1 field goal percentage for the game. Colorado Mesa shot 41.8 percent from the field and 39.1 percent from the three-point line.
Neither team led by more than eight points in the game with the Mavericks leading 44-36 with 16:58 left in the second half while Black Hills State's came in the final score.
Tyler Oliver led Black Hills State with 21 points and seven rebounds.
GRIFFINS' LAST TIME OUT
Isaiah Banks scored 21 points as the Westminster men's basketball team defeated the Colorado Christian Cougars, 79-71, to start the season 2-0.
The Cougars didn't make it easy, leading by as much as five and keeping the Griffins to single digit leads. CCU made 16 of their 40 three-point attempts, nearly double, what Westminster took.
The Griffins did the dirty work and won the battle underneath the basket, outscoring CCU 28-14 and out rebounding them 20-26.
The first half ended with Westminster trailing by one-point, 41-42, after nine lead changes through the period. The Griffins were 15-32 from the field, 5-13 from three and 6-6 from the stripe with nine assists, 18 rebounds and only three turnovers. CCU was 11-22 from beyond the arc, 78.5% of their point production.
Westminster started the second half making an 11-2 run for an 8-point lead, only to see the Cougars go on a 15-5 run to get back into the game. The lead changed four more times over a couple of minutes in the middle of the half before a Brandon Willardson layup gave the Griffins their final lead with eight minutes left.
Banks shot 7-13 from the field, 2-4 from beyond the arc and 3-4 from the stripe to lead the team in points. He also led the team with fiv3e assists and grabbed four rebounds.
Reme Torbert and Jarrett Jordan also reached double-digit scoring figures. Torbert put up 17 points making 6-9 from the field and 5-8 from three. Jordan was 5-8 from the field and 2-4 from three for 12 points.
Joey Andrews led the effort underneath the basket with 12 rebounds. Taylor Miller was second on the team with eight and Willardson grabbed five.
LAST MATCHUP: BHSU vs. WC (Dec. 6, 2019)
Unable to stop an 8-0 run by the Westminster Griffins, the Black Hills State University men's basketball team fell in the final minutes of the game 64-65. The Yellow Jackets fall to 3-4 on the season and 1-1 in the RMAC.
The Yellow Jackets held the Griffins at 26-29 heading into the half despite only shooting 28 percent from the field. BHSU came out for the second half and quickly took the lead in the third minute of play. Westminster would grind their way back and the teams would remain competitive until the final six minutes of play when the Green and Gold went a 10-0 score streak to put their lead at 58-48.
With only 2.5 minutes to play, the Yellow Jackets were still leading 64-57. Then, Westminster's Bandon Warr went hot. He hit a two-point jump shot, then quickly drained back-to-back three pointers to seal the game in the Griffins favor.
The Yellow Jackets struggled to make buckets tonight. They averaged 37 percent from the field only making 23 of 62 attempts. From beyond the arc, they only connected six times on 20 shots. The Green and Gold were, however, steady from the charity stripe, making 12 of 14 attempts. The team pulled down 40 boards, 30 of those being defensive.
Joel Scott led the team in points. He put up 18 points, shooting 45 percent from the field, making 50 percent of his three pointers, and was good for seven of nine free throws. He also posted 5 rebounds.
Tyler Oliver and
Sava Dukic each posted 11 points with Oliver recording another double-double with his ten rebounds. Dukic was the top performer from the arc, making three long baskets on the night.
-BHSUAthletics.com-
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