DENVER, Colo. – The Black Hills State men's basketball team surged late in a furious comeback attempt, but it fell a couple possessions shy as they opened Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play by falling to Regis, 66-54 in the Regis Field House on Friday night.

With the loss, BHSU falls to 2-5 on the season, and is just their second loss in their conference opener in their last seven tries. Regis improves to 4-2 and snap their six-game skid head-to-head against the Yellow Jackets.

Joel Speckman finished with ten points on four-of-six from the line, and two-for-two from the stripe for BHSU. He added a quartet of rebounds, three on the offensive end.

Ronnail Tape matched Speckman with ten points off the bench.

Caelin Hearne and John Shanklin each scored eight with Hearne dishing a team-high three assists to go with a block, and Shanklin grabbing a team-best six caroms.

Matthew Ragsdale saw his streak of 20-plus scoring nights snapped, as he finished with five points. He did secure five rebounds and a pair of steals as well.

Chase Mayo Harmon led all players in scoring with 18 on the evening. He packed the box score adding five rebounds, three offensive, in addition to one assist, one block, and two steals.

Harmon was the lone Ranger in double-figures in the contest, but they got a balanced effort from the rest of their team as nine of the other ten players to appear in the game contributed four-or-more points.

Ty Cox fell just shy of a double-double with nine points and a game-high nine rebounds.

Olafur Styrmisson pitched in eight points as well, while Tarig Eisa did it all for Regis off the bench, finishing with nine points, four rebounds, two assists, three steals, and a block.

As a team, Black Hills State shot better from the field with a 41.5% field goal percentage against 40.4% for Regis, but the Rangers finished with a better three-point percentage than their field goal percentage, at 41.7%. They also doubled-up the Yellow Jackets at the charity stripe, ten to five in the win.

This one would remain tight in the early going. The two squads traded the first two baskets before Caelin Hearne notched back-to-back scores. Regis would gradually work back as an Eisa layup and a CJ Reed triple on consecutive possessions would put the hosts in front, 13-11. Myles Johnson put the Yellow Jackets back in the lead with a corner three and Hearne's sixth point in the first eight minutes gave BHSU the 16-13 edge at the under-12 media timeout.

A Matthew Ragsdale three-ball at the 8:33 mark gave Black Hills State a four-point lead, the largest advantage they obtained, for the fourth and final time of the first half before the Rangers went on a run. A three from Reed, a pair of Jalen Brown free throws, and an Elsa layup constituted a 7-0 run to claim the lead. A Trey Bryant layup with two-and-a-half left in the opening stanza opened the Regis advantage to six, the largest for either side in the half, but Tape stopped the run with a triple on the Yellow Jackets' ensuing possession. Shanklin and Brown traded layups in the final 60 seconds, bringing the score to 32-29 at the half.

As a team, BHSU shot 44.4% from the field, and hit half of their ten three pointers, but they did not get to the free throw line once in the first half of play. Regis also hit five three-pointers, but took 15 of them, and shot just 36.7% from the field in the first half, but a 5-0 edge at the charity stripe, and 13-8 advantage in points off turnovers made up for their less-efficient shooting.

Eight players contributed on the scoresheet for Black Hills State in the first half, with Hearne and Tape leading the charge with six apiece. Ragsdale, Shanklin, and Johnson each had three rebounds in the frame for BHSU.

Brown led all players with seven in the half while Harmon and Reed contributed six each.

After Regis opened the second half with a score, the Yellow Jackets finally got to the charity stripe as Jackson Edman powered through contact to get the hoop and the harm on a second-chance bucket. He would finish the three-point play, but Regis would respond with a prolonged run as they caught fire from distance. A 16-6 stretch featuring a trio of scores from deep opened a 52-36 lead.

Black Hills State refused to go quietly, a Ragsdale pull-up jumper just ahead of the 13-minute mark halted the run and jump-started BHSU on both ends of the floor. They went on a 14-3 stretch that featured six points from Speckman and four more from Shanklin to get within two possessions at 55-50, but they would get no closer. Harmon put an end to the stretch with a three, Cox made a pair of free throws, and Styrmisson cashed in a three to get the lead back to a baker's dozen and the Rangers never looked back, clinching the 66-54 win.

BHSU failed to connect on any of their seven three-pointers in the second half whereas Regis went five-of-nine from downtown to pull away. Overall, BHSU shot 38.5% against the Rangers' 44.4% from the field in the second frame.

Speckman led the Yellow Jackets, scoring eight points while making all three of his shot attempts and both of his free throws during the team's comeback attempt. Shanklin and Tape pitched in four each as well.

Harmon and Cox proved pivotal in holding off the charge for Regis, as Harmon scored a dozen and Cox had seven points and eight rebounds in the half.

Black Hills State will look to right the ship when they visit the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs tomorrow night. Tipoff is set for 7:00 PM.