Black Hills State men's basketball prepares to hit the road for its final two games of the 2020-21 regular season as they will take on Colorado Christian on Friday and Metro State Saturday.
The Yellow Jackets will tip off at 7 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 26 against CCU in Lakewood, Colo. before heading to Denver to face the Roadrunners on Saturday, Feb. 26 at 6 p.m.
Black Hills State men's basketball is 9-5, both overall and in the RMAC, through 14 games this season as they look to earn home-court advantage in the first round of the 2021 RMAC Championships.
Having won their last six games in a row, the Yellow Jackets sit in third place in the RMAC standings. The top eight teams in the conference gain a spot in the tournament, while the top four host first round games.
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BHSU (9-5, 9-5 RMAC) at CCU (2-14, 2-14)
The Cougars are currently last in the RMAC standings at 2-14. The team's wins came against Fort Lewis on Dec. 12, and then after a 12-game skid, a 78-69 win over UCCS on Feb. 23.
CCU leads the conference in 3-point shooting at 40.4 percent and live and die from beyond the arc, leading far and away with 475 3-point attempts this season with WCU holding the next most attempts at 419. CCU's offense ranks middle of the pack in the RMAC with 70.9 points per game, while its defense has given up 81.1 per game.
COUGARS' LAST TIME OUT
Colorado Christian overcame a slow start to post a 78-69 victory against UCCS to avenge a 25-point loss they suffered against the Mountain Lions on Thursday.
The early minutes saw UCCS make nearly every shot they raced out to a 17-4 lead. The Cougars started to chip away at that deficit. With just over six minutes left in the half, a DJ McDonald lay-up tied the score at 25-25 then Colorado Christian took the lead on their next possession with a Ross Williams lay-in. The final moments allowed the visitors to nudge ahead as they went into the locker room with a 35-33 advantage.
UCCS went up seven points as the early stages of the second half unfolded, but a strong response from the Cougars quickly turned the stanza in their favor. When McDonald nailed a three-pointer at the top of key, it concluded a 16-4 scoring spurt as Colorado Christian went ahead 53-48 with 12:40 left. The home team never trailed again.
The Colorado Christian offense continued its second half onslaught as they pushed their lead to 67-56 with 7:25 remaining in the contest. At that point in the second half, the home team missed just three of their 17 field goal attempts in building their 11-point edge.
The Mountain Lions pushed back as they dwindled their deficit down to 67-64 with under three minutes on the scoreboard. However, the game was all but put away when Andy Stafford hit a turnaround jumper and Justin Engesser swished a three-pointer on back-to-back possessions with just about a minute remaining.
LAST MATCHUP: BHSU vs. CCU (Feb. 14, 2021)
Black Hills State men's basketball put away Colorado Christian 91-63 Sunday night at the Donald E. Young Center.
BHSUÂ finished with 47 points off the bench on a night that saw 12 different Yellow Jackets score points.
Trey Whitley scored 21 to lead the team, making 5-of-8 from beyond the arc and 7-of-10 from the field.
Ryder Kirsch led the team with five rebounds to go along with eight points and a steal.
Adam Moussa dished out seven assists and tallied three points.
Joel Scott scored 19, going 8-of-9 from the field and grabbed three boards.
Sindou Cisse grabbed three steals while making 7-of-8 from the field to total 15 points.
After going back and forth to open the game, back-to-back threes from Kirsch kicked off a 9-0 scoring run to put BHSU ahead 16-9 nearing the 14-minute mark. A Whitley 3-pointer followed by a Cisse layup would give the Yellow Jackets their first double-digit lead of the game at 29-18.
A steal and a dunk from Cisse would put BHSU up by as much as 17 points with 6:06 left in the first, pushing their lead to 39-22. The teams traded points the rest of the half, and Whitley's fourth 3-pointer of the game sent the Yellow Jackets into the half with a 49-36 advantage.
BHSU played add-on in the second half and wouldn't look back as they outscored the Cougars 9-2 out of the break, capped by a Moussa trey to move ahead 60-38. Later in the game, a
John Shanklin layup put the Yellow Jackets up by 30 and would go on to lead by as much as 32 (87-55) on a
PJ Hayes 3-pointer at 4:51.
From there, BHSU emptied the bench and saw points from
Taylor Edwards and
Ryker Cisarik, while
Michael Russell tallied three rebounds and two assists in the final minutes to seal the game.
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BHSU (9-5, 9-5 RMAC) at METRO STATE (8-6, 8-5)
Metro State is currently 8-6 on the season, winning its last four straight. After losing their first three games to start the season, the Roadrunners won their next three in a row, and have now won five of their last six.
Metro State currently ranks second in the RMAC with 164 offensive rebounds this season, and second in the conference in total rebounds per game (36.6) They are also fourth in the RMAC in turnover margin (1.86).
ROADRUNNERS' LAST TIME OUT
The MSU Denver men's basketball team won its fourth straight game Monday night, rolling to a 108-71 victory over CSU-Pueblo on a night of extreme offensive efficiency and on a night when Laolu Oke turned in a blocked dunk shot and an alley-oop dunk that would rank up there highly with any blocked dunk and any alley-oop you'll ever see at any level.
Freshman guard Kobe Sanders continued his red-hot 3-point shooting, hitting his first four shots from long distance in the game's first 7:13. That made him a mere 11-for-13 from 3-point land in a little over two games.
On his way to a career-high 32 points – the most for an MSU Denver player since Cameron Williams scored 38 at UCCS on Feb. 17, 2018 – Sanders wound up needing only 14 field goal tries to get there.
Sanders was 11 for 14 overall from the field and went 6 for 9 from 3. Just 14 games into his career, he's one of six players in program history to make at least six 3s in a game more than once – and he's done it twice in the last three games.
MSU Denver scored 58 first-half points, its most in a half since getting 64 in the second half of a 101-86 win over Davis & Elkins (W.V.) on Nov. 25, 2016, and its most in a first half since getting 59 in an 85-66 win over Minnesota-Crookston on Nov. 16, 2008.
The Roadrunners shot 67.6 percent in the first half (23 of 34), including 9 of 13 from 3, then they went 7 for 16 from distance in the second half to finish 16 of 29 (57.1 percent).
The 108 points were the most for the program since a 109-80 win at UCCS on Feb. 9, 2008.
LAST MATCHUP: BHSU vs. MSUD (Jan. 29, 2021)
Black Hills State men's basketball lost to Metro State, 84-83 in overtime Saturday night at the Donald E. Young Center.
The Yellow Jackets forced overtime with a
Joel Scott layup in the final second of regulation but couldn't hang on in overtime.
Scott led the offense with a season-high 32 points, and his seven rebounds matched
Kevin Senghore-Peterson and
Adam Moussa for the team lead.
Senghore-Peterson added 17 points while
Sindou Cisse totaled 14 along with four rebounds and a steal. Moussa grabbed two steals and dished four assists, while adding nine points on a trio of 3-pointers.
Metro State got out to an early 5-0 lead, but the Yellow Jackets would catch-up, and then go ahead 18-16 on a Scott trey at 10:28 in the first. The two teams would go back and forth the rest of the half, but the Roadrunners held the advantage, 33-28 heading into the locker room.
Five straight points from Scott out of the break and a Senghore-Peterson layup pulled BHSU back even at 35-35 with 17:35 left in regulation.
Cisse gave the Yellow Jackets the lead a few minutes later (14:59) with a layup to move ahead, 43-41 before Metro State quickly jumped back on top. Both teams battled down the stretch as BHSU was able to keep the game within striking distance.
Down four with 1:13 left, field goals from Cisse and Scott within the final 60 seconds tied the game at 71-all to send it into overtime.
Overtime showed more of the same as the two teams stayed within three points most of the period. BHSU saw themselves down 80-73 before charging back to make it a one-point game, but the team couldn't finish the comeback.
COACHES
In his third season as head coach of the Yellow Jackets,
Ryan Thompson boasts a 47-25 record over his time at the helm. He was named RMAC Coach of the Year last season after a 20-9 record and a regular season championship (tied with Dixie State).
Cougars head coach Liam Simmons is in his first season leading the program.
Roadrunners head coach Michael Bahl is in his fourth season leading Metro State's men's basketball team. Before moving to head coach, he served on the Roadrunners coaching staff for seven seasons, and before that he was a member of the team from 2002-2007.
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 CHRISTIAN
As a program, Black Hills State is 5-9 against Colorado Christian, but have won three of the last four meetings between them. The two teams first played Dec. 7, 2012 in which the Yellow Jackets won 72-68. BHSU won only one of their next nine games between each other before netting wins on Feb. 10, 2018 and Jan. 10, 2020.
ABOUT METRO STATE
As a program, Black Hills State is 3-16 against Metro State, but the three wins have come within the last five games. The two teams first played Dec. 19, 2009 in which the Yellow Jackets fell 65-63. BHSU lost the first 14 meetings in a row before beating the Roadrunners for the first time on Feb. 2, 2019 by the score of 64-62.
A FRIDAY BHSU WIN WOULD...
Extend its winning streak to seven game and improve the Yellow Jackets to 10-5 on the season with two games left to play before the RMAC Tournament, March 2-6. BHSU currently sits in third place in the RMAC and has met the minimum 11 games played threshold to be eligible for the RMAC Tournament. With the top four teams hosting first-round games, another win would bring BHSU closer to playing at home next Tuesday.
A FRIDAY BHSU LOSS WOULD...
Move the Yellow Jackets to 9-6 on the season. Going into Friday's game, the men sit in third place where they would safely earn a top-8 seed berth in the RMAC Tournament and a first-round home game, but a loss would drop the team down into the danger zone of falling out of home-court contention.
SHARP SHOOTING
The Yellow Jackets currently lead the RMAC and rank eighth nationally at the Division II level in shooting with a field goal percentage of 51.7% (419-810) over their 14 games this season. The team is also second in the conference in scoring, averaging 78.6 points per game.
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.
CONFERENCE ACCOLADES
Last season, 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, a 2019-20 senior, was named RMAC Defensive Player of the Week for the week of Dec. 16.
-BHSUAthletics.com-
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