No. 5/6 Black Hills State men's basketball is set to tip-off its RMAC slate this week as the team hosts Regis and UC Colorado Springs.
The Yellow Jackets will take on the Rangers Friday, Dec. 2 at 7 p.m. and then the Mountain Lions on Saturday, Dec. 3 at 6 p.m.
BHSU is currently ranked fifth in the nation in the D2SIDA Media Poll and sixth in the NABC National Poll, while remaining first in the South Central Regional Poll with a 6-0 start to the year, the program's best start since the 1927-28 season when they opened the year 8-0.
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FRIDAY vs. REGIS
The Yellowjackets are also undefeated so far this season, sitting at 4-0 with wins over No. 13 Cal State San Marcos as well as Holy Names, Rocky Mountain College and Minot State.
After finishing 13-14 last season (9-8 GNAC), MSUB returns two of their top scorers and have added a trio of transfers who all make up their top five scorers this season.
BHSU and Regis have met 18 times, in which the Yellow Jackets are 11-7 all time in those meetings dating back to 2012. BHSU has won each of their last four matchups, including last year's 2022 RMAC Championship game in which BHSU won 69-66.
RANGERS' LAST TIME OUT
Facing a deep and talented University of Sioux Falls squad, the Regis University men's basketball team was unable to string together enough consistent minutes in a 73-60 home loss to conclude the annual Thanksgiving Classic.
The Rangers were in catch-up mode most of the evening Saturday as Sioux Falls led 36:17 of the 40 minutes of game time, keeping the Regis defense on its toes with a deliberate and diverse motion offense.
Trailing by as many as 12 points with 3:55 remaining in the first half, the Rangers put together their best stretch of basketball on the night as they closed the half on a 10-0 blitz to trim the deficit to 34-32 at the break.
Unfortunately for Regis, the team was unable to carry that momentum over to the second half as the visiting Cougars opened the final 20 minutes on a 9-1 run to bump their lead back to double-digits at 43-33.
Sioux Falls would go on to lead by as many as 19 points with 8:34 remaining in the game at 64-45 and hold on for the 73-60 final.
LAST MATCHUP: BHSU vs. RU (March 5, 2022)
Black Hills State men's basketball won a back-and-forth battle with Regis, 69-66 Saturday night to win its first ever RMAC Championship.
The Yellow Jackets (22-7, 20-4 RMAC) advance to their first ever NCAA Tournament in program history.
Joel Scott led the team with 29 points (8-of-11) and nine rebounds along with three steals and a block.
Sindou Cisse and
PJ Hayes both scored in double figures with 12 points and 10 points, respectively.
Adam Moussa dished out five assists while grabbing six boards and scoring nine.
Regis got out to an early 18-12 lead after making 4-5 from deep to open the game. The Yellow Jackets used an 8-0 run from there to take their first lead of the game, 20-18 on a Moussa trey midway through the first half.
The Rangers would work their way back ahead, but BHSU used another quick spurt and a clutch three from Moussa to take the lead in the final seconds of the first and go into the locker room with a 36-35 advantage.
Both teams went back and forth out of the break, neither team separating themselves by more than four points midway as the Yellow Jackets led 47-44 with 10:59 remaining. Regis went on to score nine unanswered from there to take a 53-47 lead with under eight minutes to play.
BHSU wasn't done, though, climbing back with a Moussa three and Cisse layup to pull back within two, 62-60 with 4:44 to go in the game.
Two minutes later, Scott worked his way through the Regis defense for a big dunk and drew the foul for the 3-point play, giving the Yellow Jackets a 65-64 lead.
Leading 67-66 in the final seconds of play, Regis had the final possession, and the Yellow Jackets defense forced a turnover and a foul, bringing Scott to the free throw line with 2.1 seconds left.
Scott sank both free throws, clinching the game 69-66, and Black Hills State's first RMAC Tournament Championship.
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SATURDAY vs. UCCS
SDSMT is 0-4 this season and looking for their first win of the season after falling to Texas A&M Kingsville and Texas A&M International to open the season before losing to Augustana and MSU Moorhead at the East-West Challenge last weekend.
The Yellow Jackets are 12-11 all-time against UCCS, and are winners of six of the last eight meetings between the two programs. The last matchup between the two teams came in last year's RMAC semifinal game in which BHSU won 86-77.
MOUNTAIN LIONS' LAST TIME OUT
UCCS Men's Basketball bounced back in a big way Saturday evening as the Mountain Lions topped the Hawaii Pacific University Sharks at a final score of 71-56 inside the Neil S. Blaisdell Center.
The Mountain Lions broke the game open early on Saturday with the sophomore attaching his name to the first two scoring possessions of the game by swiping a steal to then have Beni Fungula score on the other end as McKenzie then gathered in an offensive rebound and laid it back in for the 4-0 UCCS lead.
Washington's scoring play ignited a 16-4 drive for the Mountain Lions as the newcomer made his presence known with a three-pointer and his first career block in a six-minute span that Logan Bracamonte topped off with a layup in the paint for a commanding 25-13 lead right before the 3:49 media timeout.
Fungula then rattled the backboard with a dunk at the 1:45 mark to bring UCCS up to 27 first half points as the Sharks wouldn't go away and put up five points to close the half and head into the intermission down five points, 27-20.
Out of halftime, it was the Mountain Lions who caught fire as they made a defensive stop in the opening possession and let McKenzie go to work as the guard hit a pull-up three-pointer then went on to net a jumper in the paint while adding his fifth and sixth points of the half in UCCS' next possession. Fungula joined in on the action with a driving layup to make it a perfect 4-of-4 from the field to start the second half for the Mountain Lions as they embarked on a 13-2 scoring drive that was a result of 5-of-9 shooting from the field to give UCCS their largest lead of the game at 18 points, 40-22 with 14:49 left to play.
Stodart and Sufyan Elkannan kept the strong second half surging with a pair of treys but the Sharks' Melo Sanchez kept HPU in the game with eight straight HPU points to bring it within 12 points at a score of 46-34 with 12:12 remaining.
As the game began to wind down, HPU eventually worked back within a single-digit deficit of seven points and chipped away at the Mountain Lions to work a 61-54 score with 22:24 left to play, but that would be as close as the Sharks could get to the Mountain Lions as UCCS put on a nearly flawless performance to close the game out with a 10-2 run that included a perfect 6-of-6 from the charity stripe and 2-of-3 from the field to garner the 71-56 win.
LAST MATCHUP: BHSU vs. UCCS (March 4, 2022)
Black Hills State men's basketball took down No. 6-seed UCCS, 86-77 Friday evening to advance to Saturday's RMAC Championship.
The Yellow Jackets (21-7, 19-4 RMAC) never trailed UCCS, scoring early and often to move on to their second RMAC Championship in program history, and first since the 2018-19 season.
Joel Scott led all scorers with 34 points to go with his 10 rebounds for his 18th double-double of the season, while also recording three blocks.
Adam Moussa also reached double-double figures with 17 points and 10 rebounds, while also grabbing two steals.
Sindou Cisse scored 21, going 9-of-11 from the field while grabbing nine boards and dishing out five assists.
Tommy Donovan went 4-of-5 from the field for nine points.
The Yellow Jackets came out on fire, opening the game with a 15-0 scoring run highlighted by threes from Moussa and Scott, while holding UCCS to 0-of-11 from the field.
BHSU kept its foot on the gas using a big trey from Donovan followed up by layups from Cisse and Scott to extend the lead to 24-11 midway through the first.
The Yellow Jackets led by as many as 18 points in the first, going up 29-11 with 9:14 to play on a Cisse free throw. UCCS didn't quit, though, as they crept back to within 10 points to make it a 31-21 game with 5:44 remaining.
But BHSU kept rolling into the closing minutes of the half, outscoring the Mountain Lions 9-2 to move up 40-23 on a Donovan layup before another Moussa triple sent the Yellow Jackets into the locker room leading 43-29.
Out of the break, UCCS used a quick trio of threes to put the BHSU lead back to single-digits, 47-40 at the 16:44 mark.
A Moussa three would cut a UCCS 8-0 run short to make it 50-42 before re-gaining a double-digit advantage on a 7-0 spurt and extend the lead to 54-42. That rally turned into a 13-3 stretch, capped by a Scott dunk, fed by Donovan to make it a 60-45 game.
Both teams traded points over the next several minutes of play before UCCS climbed back into the game again and BHSU led 79-72 with under two minutes remaining.
A Cisse layup in the final minute put BHSU ahead 81-72 before the team went 3-4 from the free throw line down the stretch, and a Donovan dunk sealed the game at 86-77.
YELLOW JACKETS' LAST TIME OUT
Black Hills State men's basketball took down rival South Dakota Mines, 78-58, Monday night at the King Center.
The Yellow Jackets improve to 6-0 overall, the program's best start to a season since the 1927-28 team opened the season 8-0. BHSU used a monstrous first half, shooting 75 percent from the field and 77.8 percent from deep to take an early advantage in the win.
Joel Scott led the offense with 30 points, going 9-of-15 from the field while grabbing six boards.
Matthew Ragsdale scored 15 while
Adam Moussa led the team with 13 rebounds and seven assists. Moussa also tallied a steal and a blocked shot.
In his first game of the season,
Sindou Cisse scored nine points to go along with five rebounds and an assist.
An early three from Ragsdale helped BHSU out to an early lead before shots from Moussa and Ragsdale led to a quick 7-0 spurt that extended the Yellow Jacket lead to 13-4 with under 14 minutes left in the first.
A Scott slam along with threes from Cisse, Scott and Hearne helped BHSU rattle off a 16-0 scoring run which extended the lead to 31-8 as the clock ticked under eight minutes remaining in the first.
Leading 44-13 with 4:41 left in the half, their largest lead of the game, the Yellow Jackets traded points with SDM the rest of the way before taking a 51-23 lead into the locker room.
Out of the break, the Hardrockers would chip away at the Yellow Jacket lead, inching back to within 12 (55-43) with under 12 to play. A Hackley triple would stop the SDM run as BHSU slowly regained some breathing room with layups from Shanklin and Scott with a 62-45 lead with 9:12 to go.
The Yellow Jackets continued to separate with the help of a layup and 3-pointer from Scott to extend the lead to 73-51 with five to go in the game, before a Ragsdale layup and Dukic three sealed the 78-58 victory.
COACHES
Head coach
Ryan Thompson is in his fifth season leading the Yellow Jackets, having taken the program to its first NCAA tournament in the 2021-22 season, and the RMAC tournament each of the last four years.
Jeff Culver is entering his 11th season at UCCS, and has coached the only NBA Draft pick and the only All-American in program history.
Brady Bergeson in in his eighth season at the helm for Regis.
YELLOW JACKETS RANKED
The Yellow Jackets remain fifth in the latest D2SIDA National Poll and sixth in the NABC National Poll, while remaining first in the South Central Regional Poll.
Statistically, BHSU ranks second in NCAA DII in 3-point percentage defense (21.5), while sitting sixth in the nation in Field goal percentage defense (35.1), and defensive rebounds per game (31.5).
The Yellow Jacket offense also ranks 10th in the nation in made threes per game (11.2), 12th in scoring margin (20.0), 13th in assist/turnover ratio (1.57), 14th in field goal percentage (51.8) and 15th in 3-point percentage (41.6).
A WEDNESDAY BHSU WIN WOULD...
Make the Yellow Jackets 7-0 to open the season continuing the program's best start to a season since the 1927-28 team got out to an 8-0 start.
A WEDNESDAY BHSU LOSS WOULD...
Put the Yellow Jackets out to a 6-1 start, and despite losing their first game of RMAC play, would still hold their best start to the season since the 2010-11 squad also started 6-1.
KEY RETURNERS
BHSU returns all of its starters from the 2021-22 season, and nearly all of its key contributors, including
Ryker Cisarik,
Sindou Cisse,
Sava Dukic,
Adam Moussa,
Tommy Donovan,
John Shanklin,
PJ Hayes, and RMAC Player of the Year,
Joel Scott.
DYNAMIC DUO
The Yellow Jackets added transfer Matthew Ragsdale ahead of the 2022-23 season, who had previously spent all three seasons of his career at Western Colorado where he totaled 1,309 points over 73 games and 2,185 minutes played. In the 2021-22 season, Ragsdale finished second in the RMAC in scoring with 601 total points and 21.5 per game, behind only
Joel Scott.
Ragsdale rejoins former high school teammate, Scott, after they played together at Lewis-Palmer High School in Colorado where in their senior season they went an undefeated 28-0 to win the Colorado 4A State Championship.
This year, they are both in their senior year of eligibility and have the chance to combine for the most total points in a season by a pair of NCAA teammates who also played on the same high school team. Currently, the highest combined total is 1,047 points, accumulated by Dick (535 points) and Tom Van Arsdale (512) in the 1963-64 season at Indiana. The twins played high school basketball together at Emmerich Manual High School in Indianapolis, Ind.
Current 2022-23 Ragsdale/Scott Point Total:
223
-BHSUAthletics.com-
