Black Hills State men's basketball will begin RMAC play this weekend as the team hosts Western Colorado and Fort Lewis.
The Yellow Jackets will take on the Mountaineers on Friday, Dec. 3 and the Skyhawks on Saturday, Dec. 4 as they look to correct their three-game skid.
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BLACK HILLS STATE (2-3) VS. WESTERN COLORADO (1-5)
The Mountaineers are 1-5 this season entering RMAC play, having defeated Our Lady of the Lake University on Nov. 27, 84-80. BHSU and WCU have matched up 13 times in program history with the Yellow Jackets holding the advantage with 10 wins and three losses in those games.
MOUNTAINEERS' LAST TIME OUT
Western Colorado men's basketball on Saturday earned it first win of the season, holding off a late charge by Our Lady of the Lake (Texas) University in an 84-80 non-conference victory at the Holiday Inn Airport Thanksgiving Basketball Classic.
Matthew Ragsdale dropped in a season-high 38 points to lead a trio of Mountaineers into double figures during the victory.
JUST THE FACTS
Final score: Western Colorado def. Our Lady of the Lake, 84-80
Records: Western Colorado 1-5, Our Lady of the Lake 4-5
Location: Brownson Arena, Colorado Mesa University; Grand Junction, Colo.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Saints broke a 7-7 tie early in the first half then held onto a lead for 10 minutes. Tied at 24-24, Ragsdale rained in a 3-pointer to break the tie and give Western back the lead.
With 3:18 to play in the half the Mountaineers and Saints were knotted at 31-31, but Western finished the half on a 7-0 run to take a 38-31 advantage into the break.
Ragsdale started the late spurt with a jumper, followed by one from Jaelan McCloud after a Saints turnover. Another Saints turnover led to a layup and one by Ragsdale for the final points of the run.
Western broke from the halftime recess with a dominant opening five minutes, extending its seven-point lead into a 21-point chasm. Over the remaining 14 minutes, however, the Saints rallied back by outscoring the Mountaineers by 17 points.
A pair of free throws by Ragsdale iced the win, despite a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from the Saints that closed the final gap.
COURT NOTES
Ragsdale's mega-afternoon included only four 3-pointers, and he was a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw line. His 38 points are a season high, but still fall short of his career high, a 46-point night in a February 16, 2021, win at Colorado State Pueblo.
Also reaching double figures Saturday were Avery Rembao (16) and Jordan Veening, whose 12 points were a career high as were his game-high 8 rebounds.
Our Lady of the Lake won the rebounding battle, 35-29, scoring more points in the paint (48) than did Western (38), but the Mountaineers were 20-of-25 (80 percent) from the free throw line while the Saints connected on just 64% (16-of-25).
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BLACK HILLS STATE (2-3) VS. FORT LEWIS (4-2)
FLC is 4-2 through non-conference play as they earned wins over Eastern New Mexico, University of the Southwest, Northern New Mexico and Western Oregon. BHSU is 4-5 against the Skyhawks over their nine meetings.
SKYHAWKS' LAST TIME OUT
The Fort Lewis College men's basketball team closed out non-conference play with a thriller on Saturday evening, but were unfortunately on the short end of an 89-87 back-and-forth affair inevitably decided by which high-powered offense would have the ball last.
After the Skyhawks (4-2 overall) tied the game with 21 seconds remaining, Central Washington (2-1 overall) senior guard David Thompson was able to get a contested layup to fall with 3.8 left on the clock for what proved to be the game-winner.
"We didn't switch the ball-screen like we needed to and (Thompson) got our hip. He made a tough shot to win it, but it was a little bit of a defensive breakdown," said FLC head men's basketball coach, Bob Pietrack. "We didn't execute that last play perfectly, but give credit to the kid because he made a tough layup. I'm proud of our guys and thought we played really hard, just came up a little short."
The layup from Thompson was the last of 15 lead changes and 17 ties on the evening between the Skyhawks and the GNAC perennial power Wildcats. Fort Lewis pulled even at 87-87 on a clutch shot from one of its own senior guards JacQuess Hobbs as he rose up and buried a midrange jumper for two of his season-high 19 points with 0:21 remaining.
Hobbs finished an efficient 8-of-13 from the floor, adding three steals, four rebounds and two assists in his 32 minutes while showing the big-game experience the Skyhawks were looking for when they added the transfer from Eastern Kentucky.
"That was just a senior playing in a NCAA regional caliber game," Pietrack said of Hobbs' performance. "He played very well. The way (CWU) was crowding the post, we kept it in JacQuess' hands quite a bit."
Fellow senior Riley Farris also finished with 19 points and a season-high eight rebounds to lead all FLC scorers, while redshirt junior forward Brenden Boatwright was the third Skyhawk in double-figures with 17.
Fort Lewis a solid 48.4% (31-of-64) from the field on Saturday, just a shade under the team's season average of 50%, while the Wildcats finished the night a sizzling 56% from the floor (37-of-66) with 58 points in the paint.
It was a small hiccup for a FLC defense that had limited opponents to 64 points or less during its three-game win streak entering Saturday's matchup.
"Defensively, we didn't play well enough to win. They shot 55% and I thought that was the difference in the game," Pietrack said. "If we had held them in the upper-40's I think the game would have been different. But besides that, it was two really good teams playing and they just made one more play than we did."
Sophomore guard Junior Garbrah had his best performance of the young season on Saturday, scoring nine points on 3-of-4 shooting from 3-point range in his seven minutes off the bench.
Senior guard Corey Seng and sophomore Akuel Kot each added eight points apiece, as well, to help pace the FLC offense.
COACHES
Head coach
Ryan Thompson enters his fourth season leading the Yellow Jackets, boasting a 49-27 record over his first three seasons at the helm. He has taken the BHSU men's program to the RMAC tournament each of the last three years and was named RMAC Coach of the Year following the 2019-20 season.
Mountaineers head coach Bradd Schafer is currently in his eighth season leading WCU. He began there in 2014 after spending the previous eight at Black Hills State.
Bob Pietrack is in his seventh season leading Fort Lewis men's basketball, holding a career record of 112-57 overall.
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, making the RMAC Tournament each of the last three seasons while combining for an overall record of 49-27 over that time. This year they look to continue taking steps forward under fourth-year head coach
Ryan Thompson.
A FRIDAY BHSU WIN WOULD...
Move the Yellow Jackets to 3-3 overall on the season, and get the men off to a 1-0 start in RMAC play
A FRIDAY BHSU LOSS WOULD...
Give the Yellow Jackets a 2-4 start to the season and a 0-1 start in the conference.
DOUBLE-DOUBLES
The BHSU men's basketball team has recorded five individual double-doubles in as many games to start the 2021-22 season.
Joel Scott has opened the 2021-22 campaign with double-doubles in four of the first five games of the season. He's the first Yellow Jacket to accomplish that feat in the Division II era and was the first to have a double-double in the first game of the season since Fraser Malcolm in 2017-18 season.
Scott has tallied 12 career double-doubles at BHSU, with a career-high four double-doubles this season after recording the feat four times in each his freshman and sophomore campaigns.
Adam Moussa also recorded a double-double for the first time in his career on 11/24 at MSU Billings.
PRESEASON POLL
Black Hills State men's basketball tallied one first-place vote on their way to being picked third in the 2021-22 RMAC Preseason Coaches Poll, released Wednesday morning.
The poll is voted on by all 15 head men's basketball coaches in the RMAC.
2020-21 Honors and Awards
Last season,
Joel Scott was named NABC First Team All-District and First Team All-RMAC.
Sindou Cisse earned Second Team All-RMAC while
Adam Moussa and
Trey Whitley each earned All-RMAC Honorable Mention.
Tommy Donovan was named as the 2021 MBB RMAC Summit Award winner for having the highest GPA among student-athletes at the RMAC Tournament.
-BHSUAthletics.com-
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