Black Hills State men's basketball is set to host Colorado Mesa in the Donald E. Young Center on Saturday, Jan. 8 at 6Â p.m.
After taking down Colorado Mines 78-72 last weekend, the Yellow Jackets remain in first place in the RMAC as they improved their conference record to 7-0, and moved to 9-3 overall.
Saturday's game will wrap up a tough 7-game stretch in their schedule as BHSU looks to improve on their record with a victory over the third-place Mavericks.
BHSU will also be hosting Spearfish Day where we will be recognizing the town and celebrate the community that makes Spearfish so great.
General Admission tickets will be $5 to Spearfish residents with presentation of drivers license or school ID.
NATIONAL POLLS
For the first time in program history, the Black Hills State men's basketball program has received votes in the NCAA DII NABC Coaches Poll, entering the list with two votes.
JOEL SCOTT SUPERLATIVES
Now in his junior season, Scott currently leads the nation in defensive rebounding, averaging 9.25 per game, and is one of only five players in NCAA DII to rank top-10 in six or more major statistical categories.
1st - Defensive Rebounds Per Game (9.25)
3rd - Double-Doubles (9)
4th - Points Per Game (24.1)
6th - Total Points (289)
7th - Total Rebounds (134)
10th - Rebounds Per Game (11.2)
Additionally, Scott leads the RMAC in eight different statistical categories.
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BLACK HILLS STATE (9-3, 7-0 RMAC) vs. COLORADO MESA (12-5, 6-2 RMAC)
Currently sitting at third place in the RMAC, the Mavericks are the top defensive team in the conference. CMU leads the league in scoring defense (65.3 PPG), opponent shooting percentage (.392), blocked shots (79) and steals (143). Offensively, their 78.1 points per game ranks sixth in the RMAC, and they're fourth in shooting at a .491 clip. Their strong defense and above average offense will keep them in contention for a conference championship come March.
MAVERICKS' LAST TIME OUT
After finding themselves down after the first half in the previous two contests, the Colorado Mesa men's basketball team held a 41-28 edge after one and only built on it surpassing their scoring total with 44 points in the second for the 85-61 final over New Mexico Highlands, Saturday night in the John A. Wilson Complex.
There was a prominent paint presence by the Mavs as they strung together 52 of their total points in the lane. They also knocked down eight, 3-pointers on the evening shooting at a 54.7 clip from the field, keeping the Cowboys to just 31.3 percent.
Jared Small led all scorers with a season high 22 points, the Arvada native going 6-for-9 from deep. Mac Riniker finished with a double-double with 15 points and a season high 12 rebounds. Trevor Baskin, Reece Johnson and Georgie Dancer added 10 points apiece.
The Mavs established the offense early going up by 12 midway through the first period. The Cowboys pulled within one with under six minutes to play, but an 8-0 run in the final three minutes opened up a 13-point advantage in favor of CMU, capped off by Small's third 3-pointer of the half.
Though up by double-figures, it was not to be taken lightly as the Cowboys used a big second half to come from behind the night prior.
The Mavs however would only increase their lead behind more sharp shooting. Small added another trio of 3-pointers to his night's total, Dancer going 4-for-5 from the floor as well, dishing out four assists to aid in the scoring.
Sammy Barnes-Thompkins contributed 21-points for the Cowboys as the leading scorer, Andre Adams adding 10.Â
The win brings the Mavericks to 12-5 overall, 6-2 in conference play – having won the last five straight.
LAST MATCHUP: (Dec. 10, 2021)
Black Hills State men's basketball won in exciting fashion, taking down Colorado Mesa 75-73 in overtime.
The Yellow Jackets took advantage of turnovers and finished with four in double-figure scoring.
Joel Scott recorded his sixth double-double of the season with a team leading 27 points and 14 rebounds. On defense he tallied four steals and a block.
Adam Moussa had a strong all-around game with six rebounds, six assists and seven steals to compliment his 15 points.
Sava Dukic finished with 11 points and three assists, going 3-of-6 from beyond the arc, while
Sindou Cisse scored 10 to go along with six rebounds.
Following back-and-forth play to open the game, BHSU found a rhythm midway through the first half as a pair of Moussa 3-pointers helped the Yellow Jackets to outscore CMU 12-0 and move ahead by double-digits, 28-17.
The Mavericks weren't done, though, using an 11-0 run to tie the game at 28-all with three minutes left in the first. The two teams would trade buckets the rest of the half until
Caelin Hearne had the last word, sinking a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give BHSU the 35-33 lead going into the locker room.
Out of the half, a Cisse layup put the Yellow Jackets up by as many as five points (41-36). However, the Mavericks continued to hang around and eventually re-took the lead (45-41) with 12:00 to play, using nine unanswered points.
Down 50-46, a Moussa three and Scott layup put BHSU back ahead, 51-50 with six minutes to play. CMU rattled off another scoring spurt to re-take the lead, but the Yellow Jackets kept within one possession all the way into the final minute.
Trailing 65-62 with six seconds left in regulation, Dukic came up clutch from deep, nailing a three to send the game into overtime at 65-all.
In overtime, a pair of Cisse layups gave the Yellow Jackets a lead they would end up holding the rest of the way thanks to a Dukic jumper and layups from Scott and Cisse down the stretch, sealing the game.
COACHES
Head coach
Ryan Thompson enters his fourth season leading the Yellow Jackets. 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.
Mavericks Head Coach Mike DeGeorge is entering his fourth season at CMU, holding a record of 68-26 over that time.
ABOUT BLACK HILLS STATE
The Yellow Jackets are off to a 7-0 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, Westminster, New Mexico Highlands, UC Colorado Springs and Colorado Mines.
ABOUT COLORADO MESA
The Mavericks are 12-5 overall this season and 6-2 in conference play after defeating UCCS and NMHU last weekend. BHSU is 8-9 all-time against CSM having lost the last three meetings, and two of their last five. Despite having a slow start to the season, the Orediggers will be hungry coming off their pair of losses.
A SATURDAY BHSU WIN WOULD...
Improve the Yellow Jackets to a 8-0 record in the conference which would continue their best start as members of the RMAC.
A SATURDAY BHSU LOSS WOULD...
Give the Yellow Jackets their first loss in RMAC play to put the team's record at 9-4 overall and 7-1 in the conference.
DOUBLE-DOUBLES
The BHSU men's basketball team has recorded ten individual double-doubles in the team's twelve games played to start the 2021-22 season.
Joel Scott has tallied nine double-doubles in twelve 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 16 career double-doubles at BHSU, with a career-high eight 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.
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.
-BHSUAthletics.com-
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