Black Hills State men's basketball hosts Fort Lewis in round one of the RMAC Tournament on Tuesday, March 2 at 7:30 p.m. at the Donald E. Young Center.
The Yellow Jackets finished the 2021 regular season with a 10-6 record, both overall and in the RMAC, to earn the 3-seed in the tournament and a home game in the quarterfinal round. This will be BHSU's fourth straight RMAC Tournament berth after finishing the 2021 not-so-regular season winning seven of its last eight games.
This will be a matchup between two of the top offensive teams in the RMAC, both sitting 1-2 in several offensive categories.
The Skyhawks enter the 2021 RMAC Tournament as the No. 6 seed after finishing the season 7-8 overall and 6-8 in the conference. Despite the under-.500 record, Fort Lewis was the second-best scoring team in the RMAC averaging 78.5 points per game, sitting behind only Black Hills State (79.2).
The same goes for field goal percentage, as FLC is shooting 50.3 percent, behind only BHSU's 51.4 percent. Additionally, Fort Lewis leads the RMAC with 15.38 assists per game and is second in blocks per game, averaging 4.23.
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 FORT LEWIS
As a program, Black Hills State is 3-5 against Fort Lewis, but have won each of the last three meetings between them. The two teams first played Jan. 5, 2013 in which the Yellow Jackets lost 65-63. BHSU would lose the first five games in a row to Fort Lewis College before beginning its three-game win streak with a 67-64 win on Jan. 12, 2018.
A TUESDAY BHSU WIN WOULD...
Advance the Yellow Jackets to the semifinal round of the 2021 RMAC Tournament to play the winner between No. 2 seed Colorado Mines and No. 7 seed South Dakota Mines. A Colorado Mines win would send BHSU to Golden, Colo. for the semifinal game on Friday, March 5, but a South Dakota Mines win would mean the Yellow Jackets host the Hardrockers that day.
A TUESDAY BHSU LOSS WOULD...
End the season for the Yellow Jackets, eliminating them from the RMAC Tournament. This would be the second straight year BHSU has fallen in the first round of the RMAC Tournament after losing last year to South Dakota Mines in a home semifinal game.
SHARP SHOOTING
The Yellow Jackets currently lead the RMAC and rank seventh nationally at the Division II level in shooting with a field goal percentage of 51.4% (475-925) over their 16 games this season. The team is also first in the conference in scoring, averaging 79.2 points per game.
COACHES
In his third season as head coach of the Yellow Jackets,
Ryan Thompson boasts a 48-26 record over his time at the helm. With the 2021 bid, he has now led BHSU to an RMAC Tournament berth each of his first three seasons.
Thompson was named RMAC Coach of the Year last season after a 20-9 record and a regular season championship (tied with Dixie State).
Bob Pietrack is in his sixth season leading Fort Lewis men's basketball, holding a career record of 112-57 overall.
YELLOW JACKETS' LAST TIME OUT
Black Hills State men's basketball earned an 85-73 victory over Metro State Saturday night in its final game before the RMAC Tournament.
The Yellow Jackets will finish the 2021 not-so-regular season at 10-6, overall and in the RMAC. The men won seven of their final eight games, capped by Saturday night's 57.4 percent shooting performance.
Adam Moussa led the scoring, going 7-of-13 overall and 5-of-9 from deep to total 23 points along with nine rebounds, two steals and two assists.
Joel Scott added 19 points, making seven of his eight attempts from the field, also tallying nine rebounds to go with five assists and a block.
Sindou Cisse scored 16 points with three assist, and
Ryder Kirsch scored 10.
Kevin Senghore-Peterson totaled six rebounds, two blocks and an assist.
Both teams got off to a slow start before BHSU ahead 7-5 on a Scott 3-pointer at 14:44 in the first. The Yellow Jackets and Roadrunners would lock themselves into a tie three times before Scott put BHSU back ahead, this time 21-20 midway through the half.
Threes by Moussa and Kirsch extended the Yellow Jacket lead to 29-24 before another Moussa three capped an 11-2 scoring run, putting BHSU up 32-24 nearing the four-minute mark. Cisse, Scott and Moussa each sank another bucket before the first half came to a close, taking a 39-32 lead into the break.
Back-and-forth play continued out of the half until a
Trey Whitley three gave BHSU its first 10-point lead, going ahead 54-44 at 13:44. Metro State would stay in striking distance, though, getting back to within one (59-58) midway through the second.
Back-to-back layups from Cisse gave the Yellow Jackets some breathing room before a
Tommy Donovan jumper extended the lead to 77-66 with four minutes to go. BHSU would hold its lead the rest of the way, going a perfect 8-of-8 from the charity stripe down the stretch to seal the victory.
SKYHAWKS' LAST TIME OUT
The Fort Lewis College men's basketball team knew a win over No. 5 ranked Colorado Mesa University would guarantee the team a spot in the RMAC Tournament.
The ideal ending didn't go the Skyhawks' way as they fell by a 78-58 final Saturday evening out in Grand Junction. However, Fort Lewis did end up earning its desired result, following losses from Regis University and Chadron State, allowing the Skyhawks to vault up to the No. 6 seed in Tuesday's RMAC Tournament quarterfinals.
Fort Lewis (7-8 overall, 6-8 RMAC) finished with an RPI point total of 11.0 given its strength of schedule in a Covid-19 impacted 2020-21 season. The Skyhawks finished ahead of South Dakota School of Mines (10.83) and Chadron State (10.83), as well as Westminster College (10.63), thanks to a 75-56 road win the Skyhawks earned over the Griffins on Friday.
Fort Lewis (7-8 overall, 6-8 RMAC) will travel out to Spearfish, South Dakota on Tuesday for a matchup against the No. 3 seed Black Hills State University Yellow Jackets (10-6 overall, 10-6 RMAC). A tip-off time has not yet been set as of Saturday evening.
The two teams were originally scheduled to face each other in the regular season back on Dec. 5, but had the game postponed due to Covid-19 related issues.
The Skyhawks, the only team to take on No. 5 Colorado Mesa and No. 7 Colorado School of Mines twice during the regular season, has shown it has the ability to play right with some of the nation's best as they took CMU to overtime (74-72 loss) on Jan. 29, and played two tightly contested games decided by six or less points in their matchups against CSM.
As for Saturday's contest, the Skyhawks' offense struggled to gain much traction as they shot 41.5% (22-of-53) and committed 15 turnovers on the evening, leading to 15 points for the Mavericks.
The forward tandem of senior Riley Farris and redshirt junior Brenden Boatwright led the way for the Skyhawks, offensively.
Farris poured in 20 points on 6-of-13 shooting, finishing the regular season as the RMAC's scoring leader at 21.8 points per game. As for Boatwright, the 6-9 native of Carlsbad, New Mexico chipped in 10 points, four rebounds and three assists while scoring in double-figures for 12th straight game.
Unfortunately, Saturday's collective struggled for the Skyhawks was an unusual performance for a FLC offense that was humming entering the ballgame, coming off of its two most efficient shooting performances of the season in victories over CSU Pueblo and Westminster College.
LAST MATCHUP: BHSU vs. FLC (Dec. 14, 2019)
The Fort Lewis College men's basketball team struggled to gain traction offensively on Saturday night, falling 81-70 on the night second of a road back-to-back against Black Hills State University.
Fort Lewis (8-2 overall, 2-2 RMAC) entered the evening the second-highest scoring team in the RMAC at close to 89 points per game, but were limited to a season-low 39.6% shooting night (21-for-53) by a stingy Yellow Jackets (5-5 overall, 3-2 RMAC) defense.
After the two teams played each other even through the first 10 minutes of action, BHSU closed the first half on an 18-10 scoring run to build a 33-25 lead at the break, which could have been a lot bigger if not for the splendid first half by FLC redshirt junior Riley Farris.
Farris scored 17 of his team-high 24 points in the first half, extending his streak to 10 games with 20 or more points, to keep the Skyhawks in contact.
Black Hills opened the second half on a 13-4 run to build its largest lead of the game at 44-29 with 16:40 remaining.
The Skyhawks gradually chipped away at the lead, closing within eight points at the 1:47 mark on a 3-pointer from junior guard Logan Hokanson, who has started to turn the corner offensively after battling a nagging wrist injury.
Hokanson scored all 11 of his points in the second half, giving him back-to-back games with double-digit point totals after scoring 12 in Friday's win over South Dakota School of Mines. He's shot 7-of-14 from the field and 5-of-10 from 3-point range during the two-game stretch.
Unfortunately for FLC, that's as close as they'd rallied in the second half as BHSU, which held a 39-30 rebounding advantage that included 14 offensive rebounds, would hold on for the 81-70 final.
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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