The Hardrockers struggled last season to the tone of a 9-19 record although they were better in RMAC play, finishing 8-14. They have opened the 2023-24 campaign with a 1-4 record, having lost their last three games.

Like Black Hills State, the Hardrockers last game was against Montana State University Billings, having played the Yellowjackets on Saturday, falling 71-46.

HARDROCKERS' LAST TIME OUT
BILLINGS, Mont.- South Dakota Mines faced off with MSU Billings on Saturday evening.

The Hardrockers were not able to get going in this contest, falling to a good MSU Billings squad.

HOW IT HAPPENED
In the first half, the Hardrockers started slow, trailing 7-0 and 12-2 early. Their offense would get going a little bit, but they were down 39-20 as MSU Billings led by 19 at halftime.

To begin the second half, MSU Billings would continue their strong performance, taking a 49-28 lead, and would go up 56-30 with 12:34 to play. The Hardrockers just were never able to get going in this contest, eventually falling 71-46.

LAST MATCHUP: BHSU vs. MSUB (Jan. 24, 2023)
SPEARFISH, S.D. - Black Hills State men's basketball downed rival South Dakota Mines 76-60 in front of a record crowd of 3,077 Tuesday night.

After surrendering 25 points in the first half to Hardrocker junior Alejandro Rama, the Yellow Jackets (17-1, 11-1 RMAC) held him scoreless in the second half while BHSU shot 57.7 percent themselves.

The Yellow Jackets had five in double-digit scoring while taking advantage of SDM turnovers, outscoring them 21-9 on points off turnovers.

Matthew Ragsdale led the scoring attack with 19 points to go along with his four rebounds and a steal.

Joel Scott finished with 16 points, two steals and two blocks while Sindou Cisse tallied 12 points, five assists and four rebounds.

PJ Hayes scored 11 with six rebounds and five assists and Caelin Hearne totaled 10 points and six rebounds.

Hoku Fisher made his presence known over a season-high 22 minutes on the floor with eight points, nine rebounds an assist and a steal.

Down 5-0 early, a Scott layup and threes from Ragsdale and Scott helped BHSU rattle off an 11-3 run to pull out to an 11-8 lead over the opening five minutes of play.

Back-to-back threes from Ragsdale and Fisher minutes later kept the Yellow Jackets out front 17-13, but SDM scored five unanswered to re-take an 18-17 lead midway through the first half and would hold their largest lead of the game, 31-25 as the clock ticked under three to go in the first.

A trey from Hayes and a Cisse layup before the break made it a 1-point game as BHSU went into the half trailing 37-36.

Right out of the break, a Hearne 3-pointer put BHSU back on top 39-37 before a Ragsdale triple shortly after extended the Yellow Jacket lead to 42-39. SDM wasn't done though, evening the score 42-all a couple possessions later.

The Yellow Jackets began to pour it on from there, though, as threes from Ragsdale and Hearne pushed BHSU back ahead 50-45 with 12:58 remaining. Then another Ragsdale three kicked off what would be a 15-3 scoring run, using a pair of Cisse layups and a huge triple from Hayes to extend to a resounding 67-50 lead with 5:18 to play.

BHSU led by as many as 19 points down the stretch as a Fisher three and Ragsdale 3-point play all but sealed the 76-60 win over rival South Dakota Mines.

YELLOW JACKETS' LAST TIME OUT
BILLINGS, Mont. – There was plenty to go around a couple of days before Thanksgiving for the Black Hills State University Men's Basketball team, with five Yellow Jackets enjoying eight or more helpings of the main course in the scoring column, and another six snagging seven or more servings on the boards as the Yellow Jackets got back on track, defeating Montana State University Billings, 78-67, at the Alterowitz Gymnasium on Tuesday night.

Like grandma restricting your turn for seconds until you finish your green bean casserole, BHSU restricted the opposition to just a 35.2% field goal percentage, including 28.6% in the second half to clinch the victory, their second-straight against the Yellowjackets of the west, making it the first time in the Division-II era that BHSU has beaten MSUB in consecutive matchups.

Matthew Ragsdale had a full-helping of the featured dish, scoring a game-high 25 for the Yellow Jackets on 8-13 shooting, five-for-nine from deep. This marks the fourth consecutive game in which Ragsdale has scored 20 or more points, eclipsing his total number of such games from a season ago. It is also his longest streak of 20-plus showings since he scored that many in seven-straight from January 14th through February 1st while he was still at Western Colorado in 2022. 

Hoku Fisher finished with 14 points, adding plenty of gravy in the form of seven rebounds, and three assists, both of which were tied for the team lead.

Caelin Hearne, meanwhile, enjoyed a little of everything, contributing a season-best 14 points, along with seven rebounds, two assists, and two steals.

John Shanklin returned to add eight points, seven rebounds, and two blocks while Myles Johnson pitched in eight points, five boards, and a game-high three swats off the bench.

Four players reached double-figures for MSU Billings. Famous Lefthand led the way with 17 on 8-for-13 followed closely by Zharon Richmond's 16, including eight from the charity stripe. He also snared a team-high seven rebounds.

Daniel Moody tallied 11, although he went 4-of-13 to get there. Bryce Whitaker scored a baker's dozen off the bench for the hosts while Jalen Tot had a game-high four assists.

Fisher would pick up right where he left off on Saturday night, scooping a lefty layup home and connecting on a three-ball on the left wing off a give-and-go action with Shanklin. Lefthand had an answer with a pair of mid-range jumpers, but BHSU held a 5-4 edge early. A 7-0 spurt by the hosts was countered by a 6-0 run by Black Hills State as a see-saw affair was rapidly unfolding in the early going. An MSUB bucket at the 12:39 mark gave them the lead entering the under-12 timeout.

A few moments later, with the tallies even at 15 apiece, Hearne picked the pocket of Steven Richardson and took it all the way himself and that seemed to kick-start the Yellow Jacket offense. After a pair of MSU Billings free throws, the guests knocked down back-to-back-to-back triples, and while the Yellowjackets had an answer on each occasion, BHSU did build a five-point advantage and would never trail for the remainder of the contest. A nifty double-clutch layup from Fisher and a Ragsdale triple with 62 seconds left opened the BHSU advantage to ten, the largest for either side in the stanza. Whitaker responded with a three of his own followed by a layup just before the horn bringing the score to 41-36 at the half.

The offensive efficiency that the Yellow Jackets have displayed this season continued in the first half of this one, as they connected on 16 of their 29 shot attempts, good for a 55.2% field goal percentage. They also attempted 16 threes, their most in a half thus far this season, and made seven of them, good for a 43.75% mark.

Hearne led all players with a dozen at halftime making five-of-six from the field including both of his three-point attempts. Ragsdale joined him in double-figures with 11 and while Ronnail Tape was held scoreless, but he did have a game-high three helpers at the break.

Montana State Billings made 42.1% of their shots in the half but went just 2-13 from long range. Their 14-9 edge in points off the bench helped keep them remain within two possessions, however. Richmond led MSUB with 11 points in the frame while Whitaker added ten to go with his five rebounds to lead all players in the half.

Matthew Ragsdale took control out of halftime, scoring the first ten points of the stanza for Black Hills State. Lefthand did respond with a pair of jumpers, but the Yellow Jackets advantage had ballooned to 11. The hosts finally got the deep ball working a little bit, as Richardson and Whitaker each hit from range as a part of an effort to chip into the deficit. However, Deegan Williams drew three defenders on a drive along the baseline before dishing it to Shanklin for the easy bucket, making the score 55-48 with less than 12 minutes remaining.

Four free throws by the Yellowjackets kept them within striking distance, and they got within a point on one occasion, on a Lefthand right-hand layup. However, BHSU would respond by putting the game out of reach with a 12-0 run. After the Lefthand layup, Speckman got it started with a transition score with his left hand. Myles Johnson and Shanklin each got a layup, Ragsdale knocked down a pair from the charity stripe, and Fisher pitched in four during the run to open up a 13-point lead, the largest of the contest. The hosts attempted a comeback and got it to a three-possession game, but BHSU made their free throws down the stretch to secure the victory.

While the Yellow Jackets shot a respectable 46.4% from the field in the second half, it was their defense that made the difference, holding MSUB to a mere 28.6% from the field in the stanza. Ragsdale led all players with 14 in the second half, making four-of-seven from the field. Lefthand tallied 11 in the comeback attempt.

Black Hills State will return to the hardwood for one more tune-up before RMAC play as they will host South Dakota Mines for a non-conference matchup on Monday, November 27. Tipoff is set for 7:00 PM.

MATCHUP HISTORY
This will be the 207th all-time meeting between the Yellow Jackets and the Hardrockers, with Black Hills State holding the advantage all-time, 114-92 including 12-11 in the DII era. BHSU has dominated lately, having won 10 of the last 12 meetings, including each of the last four.

Black Hills State swept the season series a year ago with an average margin of victory of 18.0. BHSU won 76-60 in their matchup at the Young Center last year.

A BHSU WIN WOULD...
Give the Yellow Jackets consecutive wins for the first time this season and return to .500 on the season entering conference competition.

A BHSU LOSS WOULD...
Be their first loss to South Dakota Mines since January 23, 2021 (79-78) and their first loss to Mines in Spearfish since getting upset in the RMAC Tournament, 80-71 on March 3, 2020.

Also drop Black Hills State below .500 in non-conference play for the first time since 2021-22 when they finished 2-3 in regular season games against non-RMAC foes.

RAGSDALE'S STRONG START
After shaking off some opening night rust, Matthew Ragsdale has been lights-out for Black Hills State eclipsing the 20-point threshold in all four games. He has averaged 23.75 points per game in that span, posting a .554/.400/.688 shooting line.

He has already eclipsed his total of 20-point showings from the 2022-23 campaign (3) and this is the first time that Ragsdale has eclipsed 20 points in multiple games in-a-row as a Yellow Jacket. The last time he had a streak of four-or-more games scoring 20-plus was when he scored that many in seven-straight from January 14th through February 1st while he was still at Western Colorado in 2022.

CAUGHT A BIG FISH(ER)
While his role expanded throughout the season, Hoku Fisher never eclipsed double-digit scoring as a freshman. That has changed this season as he has scored double digits in three of the team's five games thus far this year. He has averaged 11.5 points per game across the team's last four contests.

GETTING (CAEL)INVOLVED
Caelin Hearne enjoyed his best game on the young season on Tuesday against MSU Billings, scoring 14 points for the Yellow Jackets, a tally he has eclipsed just once in his collegeiate career (15 vs. Colorado Christian on 1/26/23). He also posted season-highs in rebounds (7, also a career-high), field goals made (6), and steals (2)

RECENT TRENDS
- Matthew Ragsdale is averaging 23.75 points per game across his last four games, shooting .554/.400/.688 (36-65/12-30/11-16) in that span.

- Hoku Fisher is averaging 11.5 points per game over his last four games, eclipsing double-digits in three of those contests. He has shot .452/.313/.765 (14-29/5-16/13/17) in that span.

- John Shanklin has averaged 2.5 blocks and 1.5 offensive rebounds per game in BHSU wins this season. He has not recorded an offensive rebound or block in BHSU losses this season.

AGAINST SD MINES
- While he only played two minutes in their first meeting of the 2022-23 season, Hoku Fisher had a break-out performance when the rivals clashed on January 24th. in that contest, he scored what was at the time a career-high with eight points, while adding a career-high nine rebounds in the game. It sparked a run of six-straight games in which Fisher scored six-or more points for BHSU.

- Caelin Hearne averaged 7.5 points per game against SD Mines last season (5.4 overall). He was particularly good in the second meeting, posting ten points in addition to season-highs in free throw makes (4), free throw attempts (5), and rebounds (6).

- Across his four career starts against South Dakota Mines, Matthew Ragsdale has averaged 21.25 points per game, shooting .516/.381/.714 while securing 5.5 rebounds and 1.0 steals per game in those contests.

RECORDS/MILESTONES
Matthew Ragsdale will be one of BHSU's top point scorers this year after totaling 472 points last season, falling just shy of the all-time top-10 list for points in a season.

Caelin Hearne's 3-pt percentage of .452 last year put him fifth all-time for BHSU in a season with the record being .517 set by Adam Moussa in 2020-21.

NEW FACES, NEW PLACES
With only seven returning members from last year's second-consecutive Final Four team, the 2023-24 Yellow Jackets have brought in 10 new faces. Of the seven returning, two were redshirt freshmen in Cameron Jackson and Ty Nettles.

Of the 10 newcomers, six are transfers, including four juniors and two sophomores, and four are incoming freshmen.

COACHES
Head coach Ryan Thompson is entering his sixth season leading the Yellow Jackets, having taken the program to back-to-back NCAA DII Final Fours, and the RMAC tournament each of the last five years.

Eric Glenn is also in his sixth year leading the Hardrockers and has three decades of coaching experience under his belt, he has a career record of 58-80 as the bench boss for the Hardrockers.

This will be the 11th head-to-head meeting between Thompson and Glenn, with Coach Thomson holding the edge, 8-2.

-BHSUAthletics.com-