SPEARFISH, S.D. – The Black Hills State University men's basketball team finalized their 2023 slate of games on their home floor falling to the RV Colorado School of Mines, 82-72, on Saturday evening at A2 Arena in the Donald E. Young Center.

With the loss, BHSU finishes their very difficult weekend slate with a split, moving to 4-6, 2-2 against RMAC foes. Mines, on the other hand, advanced to 7-3, 3-1 against conference competition.

After tearing up MSU Denver to the tune of 32 points on Friday, Matthew Ragsdale kept on humming on Saturday scoring a game-high 29 points on 11-20 shooting, although just 3-10 from deep. He also distributed a team-best two assists. Ragsdale's 61 points across the last two games is the most since Joel Scott put up 63 in consecutive contests on March 4^th and 5^th of 2022 against UCCS and Regis respectively.

Caelin Hearne enjoyed a nice evening with 15 points for the Yellow Jackets on 7-14 shooting in addition to four rebounds, half of them on offense, and a block.

Joel Speckman contributed seven points and seven boards, including a career-best four on the offensive end.

Ronnail Tape pitched in nine points off the bench with Hoku Fisher collecting a career and game-high 11 caroms.

Cade Mankle was tremendous for the Orediggers, pouring in a career-high 28 points on 11-18 shooting. He also distributed a game-best three assists.

Sam Beskind added a baker's dozen to go with a team-high six rebounds for the guests.

Off the bench, Adam Krasovec tallied nine points and Reagan Koch pitched in seven.

As a team, the Yellow Jackets shot a solid 48.3% from the field, but only connected on six of their 19 threes. The Orediggers made 49.2% of their attempts but shot a season-best 53.3% (8-15) from distance and made 16 of their 20 attempts from the charity stripe. That plus a 22-12 edge in points off the bench made the difference for the visitors.

The game would open with a punch, counterpunch feel. Ragsdale initiated the scoring with a three, then four-straight for Mines, four-straight for BHSU, five in a row for the guests, and a layup from Speckman bringing things even at nine apiece. The Orediggers followed with a ten-point outburst spanning either side of the under-12 timeout, with all of their points coming in the paint and four of them on the fastbreak.

Tape would break the spell with a triple for Black Hills State, then Myles Johnson would split a pair from the line and grab a steal and throw down a dunk on the other end in a six-point spurt for the hosts. A Juani Dassie three ended the run and the game settled into a holding pattern for the following three minutes. The teams traded buckets with Mines maintaining a two or three possession edge throughout. Their lead stood at eight at the seven-minute mark before the Yellow Jackets made their move. Seven-straight points from BHSU was countered by seven consecutive by CSM. The hosts then got eight in a row including threes from Ragsdale and Tape to break even, but a Koch jumper closed out the scoring in the half with Mines holding a 37-35 edge.

Ragsdale led all scorers with a dozen at the break, shooting four-of-eight to the field along with one steal. Speckman added seven points for BHSU along with six rebounds, including four on the offensive end, and one block.

Mankle led the guests with ten points on five-for-seven shooting and was the only player for either team with multiple assists at the break, dishing out two helpers.

Colorado Mines shot 51.6% from the field in the half, including four-of-six from deep, while they held BHSU to just 41.9% shooting in the stanza, 4-11 from range. However, the Yellow Jackets' six offensive rebounds and six points off them, in addition to their 12-7 edge in points off turnovers, kept the game tight at the half.

The first six and a half minutes of the second half were uneventful. There was plenty of scoring, but Colorado Mines never relinquished the lead, Black Hills State never allowed it to get outside of two possessions, and it was a five-point game before the Orediggers began to pull away. The visitors would score 14 of the next 19 points with the under-12-minute timeout mixed in, staking themselves to a 65-51 advantage with nine and a half remaining.

The Yellow Jackets refused to back down with Ragsdale and Hearne doing everything in their power to will BHSU back into the game, but every time it appeared the hosts would build momentum, the guests made a big play or hit a clutch shot to curb the run. CSM saw their lead max out at 15 while not allowing Black Hills State to get inside of two possessions the rest of the way as they held on for the win, 82-72

Ragsdale pilled up 17 of his points in the second half, with Hearne adding 13, but they did not get much help in the comeback attempt that fell short despite shooting 55.6% from the field as a team.

CSM had a duo of their own holding off the Yellow Jacket comeback with Mankle scoring 18 in the half, and Beskind adding 13, six of which came from the line. As a team, the Orediggers made 15 of their whopping 19 attempts from the free throw line to hold on for the win.

Black Hills State will conclude the 2023 portion of their schedule when they travel to Las Vegas to battle New Mexico Highlands on Friday. Tipoff is set for 7 PM.