COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – John Shanklin and Ronnail Tape each posted career-high scoring nights as two of the four players for the Black Hills State men's basketball team to score double figures on their way to a 67-56 victory over the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs on Saturday evening at the Gallogly Events Center. Joining the duo in double-digits was Matthew Ragsdale and Hoku Fisher as the Yellow Jackets grabbed their first conference win of the season.

With the win BHSU improves to 3-5 and come away with a split in their opening weekend of conference competition. The Mountain Lions fell to 4-4 after getting swept in their opening weekend of RMAC play.

Ragsdale did a little bit of everything for the Yellow Jacket in this one. He shook off a quiet first half to lead the team in scoring with 16 points in addition to four assists, also a team high.

Tape recorded a new career-best 13 points on five-of seven shooting, three-for-five from long range. He also corralled four rebounds.

Fisher contributed a baker's dozen as well with 11 of those points coming in the second half. He went 4-10 from the field, but did make all four of his attempts at the charity stripe.

Shanklin posted a career-best 12 points on six-of-eight shooting. He was also one of four Yellow Jackets to grab five rebounds to lead the team alongside Fisher, Caelin Hearne, and Deegan Williams.

Xavier Martinez led all players with 17 points on the night shooting 7-13. He also added three assists and three rebounds.

Jesse Iweze had a career-high 16 points on six-for-nine shooting, but he also turned the ball over six times for the Mountain Lions.

Mac Stodart rounded out players in double-figures posting a double-double with 13 points and ten boards.

Black Hills State posted a .481/.438/.800 shooting line to out-pace the Mountain Lions' slash of .385/.381/.500. They also finished with a 21-9 edge in points off turnovers, 32-10 in the paint, 13-2 on the fast break, and 25-7 in points off the bench.

UCCS exploded out of the gates as Iweze hit a three on each of their first two possessions then split a pair of free throws. Iweze then set up Stodart for a straight-away three and Stodart made a layup and the hosts led by a dozen before people had settled into their seats. Tape halted the run with a triple at the 16:25 mark and it seemed to be a steadying play for the Yellow Jackets. BHSU's defense found some traction forcing a trio of turnovers as their offense got going. Tape hit another three before Shanklin and Jackson Edman each got short jump-hooks to fall in a 10-0 run to get back in the game. Five-straight points by the Mountain Lions brought the game to the under-12 media timeout with the score 17-10.

The two squads would split first ten points out of the timeout before Black Hills State made a run once more. An 11-0 stretch thrust the Yellow Jackets into the lead with Shanklin contributing the tying and go-ahead scores. Stodart hit a long ball to get UCCS within one point with 5:14 remaining in the frame. Tape would record the only two tallies by either team from that point on in the half, and the score was 28-25 at the break.

After the Mountain Lions made each of their first four attempts from the field and began three-of-three from deep on their game-opening run, they managed to just shoot 5-20 the rest of the half, including two-for-six from distance. They also left a lot of points on the court by only making two of their seven free throw attempts.

BHSU meanwhile, shot 37.9% as a team in the first frame, and 40.0% from deep.

The Yellow Jackets got a big boost from their second unit in the first half with Tape leading the team in scoring with eight points in the half on three-of-five shooting, two-of-three from three-point range. Shanklin added six off the pine for BHSU, giving them a 14-5 edge in bench points. Ragsdale served as a facilitator with four assists in the stanza.

Stodart paced the Mountain Lions with eight points and six rebounds. Iweze added seven with all of those points coming in the first two minutes of the contest.

Fisher got involved early in the second half as he opened the frame with a three off the left wing. UCCS got four-straight points before another Fisher score and a Shanklin layup brought the score to 35-29. The hosts countered with an 11-2 stretch that included a quartet of points from the charity stripe and suddenly, the Mountain Lions had the lead again at the under-12 break, 40-37.

Ragsdale scored five-straight out of the timeout to claim the lead and another Fisher hoop got the Yellow Jackets advantage to four. UCCS would hang around and a Stodart triple with 6:39 remaining gave the hosts a one-point advantage again. Ragsdale quickly answered with a jump hook on the other end, and they would never trail again. A Hearne basket and five-straight from Tape opened the lead to eight. They would maintain that edge until the 70-second mark when Shanklin corralled a loose ball and laid it in to extend the lead to double-digits. The Mountain Lions got within seven on a couple of occasions down the stretch, but BHSU made their free throws to ensure they did not make it a two-possession game and clinched the victory, 67-56.

Black Hills State was outstanding in the second half, shooting 60.0% from the field, making half of their six three-point attempts, and six-of-eight from the line to pull away. UCCS shot 39.3% in the stanza but went 3-12 on their attempts from distance.

Ragsdale and Fisher were both critical in the second half of play scoring 11 each to lead BHSU in the stanza. Ragsdale added four caroms in the frame to lead the team.

Martinez did his best to bring UCCS back, scoring a dozen, but it was not enough in the defeat.

Black Hills State will be back in action on Friday night when they have their first home RMAC contest of the season, hosting #8/11 Metropolitan State University of Denver on Friday night. Tipoff is set for 7:00 PM.