Black Hills State men's basketball will host its final home games of 2021 this weekend as they host New Mexico Highlands and UC Colorado Springs.
This weekend, BHSU is up against two of the top-20 scoring offenses in the nation as they take on NMHU on Saturday, Dec. 18 at 4 p.m. and UCCS on Sunday, Dec. 19 at 4 p.m.
The Yellow Jackets are 6-3 overall and 4-0 in conference play this season and are coming off a big weekend as they took down Colorado Mesa and Westminster on the road. BHSU is in the middle of a tough 8-game stretch in their schedule as the next five games come against teams who hold a combined winning percentage of .681 so far this season.
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BLACK HILLS STATE (6-3, 4-0 RMAC) VS. NEW MEXICO HIGHLANDS (5-4, 0-3 RMAC)
Despite being 0-3 to open RMAC play, NMHU has size and can shoot the ball well. NMHU leads the RMAC with 90.4 points per game (7th in the nation), leading to their 5-1 non-conference record.
The Cowboys' 49.8 percent shooting percentage from the field is good for fourth in the RMAC, and their 39.2 percent clip from beyond the arc leads the conference. NMHU can be beaten in the turnover battle, averaging 14.1 turnovers per game (fifth-most in RMAC).
COWBOYS' LAST TIME OUT
The New Mexico Highlands men's basketball team committed 23 turnovers leading to 25 points for Regis as the Cowboys fell to the Rangers 92-87 Saturday at Wilson Complex.
NMHU (5-4, 0-3) trailed Regis (8-1, 3-0) for the final 35-plus minutes of the game - but had the Rangers' lead down to one late in the second half, however the Cowboys couldn't get over the hump and lost its third consecutive game while Regis won its eighth straight.
Marcus Brown led NMHU with 20 points to go along with three steals, Darius Harrison had 19 points and eight rebounds off the bench for the Cowboys while Desmond Carpenter had 18 points, six rebounds, three assists and three steals and Andre Adams had 15 points and five rebounds - going 7-for-7 from the field.
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BLACK HILLS STATE (6-3, 4-0 RMAC) VS. UC COLORADO SPRINGS (7-2, 2-1 RMAC)
UCCS is 2-1 in league play after going 5-1 in non-conference and is one of the top teams in the RMAC, sitting top-5 in nearly every major category.
Also a good-shooting team with size, the Mountain Lions are the 11th-best shooting team in the nation (51.6 percent), they are the 19th best scoring offense in the nation (87.7 ppg), and also rebound well, currently leading all of NCAA DII in rebounding margin (15.9).
MOUNTAIN LIONS' LAST TIME OUT
The University of Colorado Colorado Springs men's basketball team played hard down the stretch but came up just short to Colorado School of Mines, 75-70.
It was a slow start from tip-off for the Mountain Lions as Colorado School of Mines scored the first bucket of the game which gave the Orediggers the early lead, one they did not surrender for the entirety of the first half. The Orediggers continued to put up points as they tallied 12 three-point attempts sinking half of them while the Mountain Lions made only one from beyond the arc on nine attempts.
The Mountain Lions fell to their largest deficit of the game after a two-point jumper put the Orediggers up 34-16, but UCCS was able to cut into their lead by going on an eight-point run that was capped by an Alijah Comithier layup with 2:57 remaining in the half.
The scoring would continue to go back and forth for the remainder of the half, but Comithier put up a buzzer-beating layup to bring the score to 39-30 with the Orediggers holding the lead.
UCCS wasted no time as the second half opened with a William Becker drive toward the basket, delivering with a contested two-handed dunk.
Comithier gave life to the Mountain Lions eight minutes into the half with an acrobatic layup that was followed by two more field goals and a free throw that kept UCCS within striking distance.
The Mountain Lions continued to chip away at the Orediggers lead and was inching ever closer to eclipsing the opposing score total. With 4:37 remaining in the half, Jon'il Fugett found Jezza McKenzie for a three-point bucket, cutting the deficit to one with the Orediggers leading 66-65, the closest the game had been since the opening tip-off.
After an Oredigger shooting foul, Comithier hit both of his free throws to tie the game at 67. The remaining minutes would feature clutch fadeaway jumpers from the Orediggers that extended their lead with time dwindling. The Mountain Lions had plenty of opportunities to overtake the lead but could not get any shots to fall when they needed them.
Fugett found Bobby Martin for a three-point jumper with 4.2 seconds on the clock to bring them within three points of the lead, but they were never able to capitalize and complete the comeback as the Orediggers held strong and came away with a 75-70 conference victory.
STATS FROM THE GAME:
The Mountain Lions forced many turnovers in the game and capitalized on those opportunities by scoring 20 points off turnovers.
Comithier had a team-high 23 points as he made 50 percent of his shots from the field. He was a perfect 7-for-7 from the free throw line.
McKenzie also played a large role for the Mountain Lions as he made five of his nine shots from the field while sinking two three-point buckets.
When it came to second chance points, the Mountain Lions outscored the Orediggers 16-5 as they came down with eleven total offensive rebounds.
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.
Cowboys' Head Coach Mike Dominguez is entering his second season leading the team after he was the Associate Head Coach the two seasons prior.
Jeff Culver is now in his 10th season as Head Coach of the Mountain Lions, having coached the only NBA Draft pick and the only All-Americans in program history over that time.
ABOUT BLACK HILLS STATE
The Yellow Jackets are off to a 4-0 start to the conference schedule, which is a program-best since they joined the RMAC for the 2012-13 season. So far this season, BHSU has collected RMAC wins over Western Colorado, Fort Lewis, Colorado Mesa and Westminster.
ABOUT NEW MEXICO HIGHLANDS
The Cowboys are 5-4 this season and 0-3 in the RMAC, coming off losses to Adams State, CSU Pueblo and Regis to open conference play. This will be the 12th meeting between BHSU and NMHU with the Yellow Jackets holding a 5-6 record against them all-time. BHSU has won each of their last two matchups, and four of the last five over the Cowboys.
ABOUT UC COLORADO SPRINGS
The Mountain Lions are 7-2 overall this season and 2-1 in conference play after losing to Colorado Mines last weekend, which followed wins over CSU Pueblo and Adams State to open RMAC play the weekend prior. BHSU is 10-10 all-time against UCCS, but the Yellow Jackets have won the last two games over the Mountain Lions, and four of the last five.
A SATURDAY BHSU WIN WOULD...
Improve the Yellow Jackets to a 5-0 record in the conference which would be their best start since the 2018-19 season when they started 6-0 and finished 18-11 (15-7 RMAC) to advance to their lone RMAC Tournament Championship in their nine seasons in the RMAC.
A SATURDAY BHSU LOSS WOULD...
Give the Yellow Jackets their first loss in RMAC play to put the team's record at 6-4 overall and 4-1 in the conference.
HISTORY ON DECEMBER 3
Anyone who watched the Friday, Dec. 3 game against Western Colorado was saw something special.
Joel Scott had an historic game, breaking the school record for points in a game as he finished with 50 on the night, surpassing the previous record of 46 points set by Jeff Stevens in 1996. Coincidentally enough, Scott's record-tying 46th point of the night also put him past the 1,000-point threshold for his career.
As if that wasn't enough for one night, Scott wasn't even the game's leading scorer as Western Colorado's Matthew Ragsdale broke their school record with 53 points of his own. And to tie it all together, he and
Joel Scott were both teammates at the same high school, Lewis-Palmer H.S. in Monument, Colo.
DOUBLE-DOUBLES
The BHSU men's basketball team has recorded six individual double-doubles in the team's seven games played to start the 2021-22 season.
Joel Scott has tallied seven double-doubles in nine games this 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 15 career double-doubles at BHSU, with a career-high seven 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.
-BHSUAthletics.com-
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