SPEARFISH, S.D. – It was the Matthew Ragsdale show at the Donald E. Young Center on Friday night, as he poured in 32 points, his highest total as a Yellow Jacket, leading the Black Hills State University Men's Basketball team to run past the #16/18 Metropolitan State University of Denver, 75-56.

With the win, BHSU wins their sixth-straight matchup head-to-head against the Roadrunners, improving to 4-5 on the season and 2-1 in RMAC play. MSUD, meanwhile, suffers just their second loss of the season, although they have come in consecutive contests, against seven wins and drop to 1-2 against conference competition.

While Ragsdale's showing steals the headlines, the Black Hills State defense was equally impressive in the victory as they held the most efficient offense in the RMAC to a season-low 56 points on a mere 33.3% shooting from the field. Included in that figure is MSUD making just four of their 22 attempts from three (18.2%), a category in which they ranked third in the nation with a 43.7% mark coming in.

Ragsdale's final points tally is his eighth 30-plus scoring output of his career, and the highest total he has posted since accumulating 33 against the Colorado School of Mines on February 2^nd, 2022, while he still played at Western Colorado. It is also the highest total any Yellow Jacket has scored in a game since Joel Scott scored 34 in a game against UCCS on March 4^th, 2022. The graduate student reached his 32 points by shooting 13-18 from the field, although just two-of-five from distance, and four-for-five from the line. He also added four rebounds, an assist, and a block.

Hoku Fisher joined Ragsdale in double-figures, scoring 11 points in addition to seven rebounds and a pair of steals.

John Shanklin and Caelin Hearne each contributed six points with all of their production occurring in the second half of play.

Ronnail Tape continued his strong stretch of play with nine points of the bench, while Deegan Williams tallied five points and a game-high nine rebounds for BHSU.

Brayden Maldonado enjoyed a great evening for MSU Denver, scoring 24 points albeit on 9-19 shooting. He also corralled five steals.

No other Roadrunner reached double-digits, however, as Caleb McGill finished with just nine points, making just four of his 13 shots as the guest's second-leading scorer in the contest.

Mario Lacy Jr. and Ryan Maslow added seven points apiece with Lacy Jr. snaring a team-best eight caroms.

KJ Garrett scored five points for MSUD but was also the only player for either team to record multiple assists in the game, as he finished with two.

The two squads would trade runs in the early going. MSU Denver opened the contest with an 8-0 spurt featuring a pair of threes split by a McGill layup. The Yellow Jackets countered with ten-straight of their own by way of a pair of triples and four points from Ragsdale. Lacy Jr. evened the score, and McGill gave the guests the edge. Things settled into a seesaw pattern with the next five baskets resulting in a lead change, the last of which was a Ragsdale layup as he drew a foul. He would finalize the three-point play after the under-12 media timeout as the hosts held a 18-16 edge.

The Roadrunners got another four-point burst ahead of another back-and-forth sequence with three consecutive hoops with a lead change. Once again, a Yellow Jackets and-one ended the spell, this time with Myles Johnson getting the hoop and the harm. The visitors climbed back within one by scoring five of the next seven points, ahead of Fisher cashing in a deep three off the right wing with 35 seconds left. Ragsdale followed by knocking down a mid-range jumper and running directly into the locker room having given BHSU a 33-27 lead into the half.

Ragsdale was superb in the first half, scoring 16 of the teams' 32 tallies going 7-11 from the field even though he was just one-of-four from three. He also added three rebounds. Fisher contributed eight points for BHSU, adding a game-high six rebounds in the stanza while Tape pitched in with six points on two-for-two from the field.

McGill led the Roadrunners with eight at the half on four-of-eight shooting. Maldonado pitched in five, while Garrett had four points, and both assists in the first frame for MSUD. Lacy Jr. led the guests with five rebounds at the break.

In a half that saw a pair of ties and a whopping 11 lead changes, BHSU shot 43.3% from the field, and were slightly more efficient from range making 45.5% (5-11) of their looks as a team. MSUD was held to just a 37.5% shooting mark as a squad and particularly struggled from range, hitting just two of their 11 attempts. The Roadrunners did outscore BHSU in the paint, 18-8 in the stanza, but it did not make up for the Yellow Jackets' superior shooting.

The adversaries would trade baskets across the first five and a half minutes of the second half, with BHSU maintaining their six-point edge in that span. Beginning at the 13:14 mark, the Yellow Jackets would put some distance between themselves and their foes, scoring all three baskets from the field, with MSUD mixing in a free throw, during a stretch to extend their advantage to double digits at 48-37 heading into the under-12 break.

Johnson split a pair from the line out of the time out and Maldonado drilled a three to get the Roadrunners within nine points, but the contest would never be within single digits after that. A \ Shanklin layup on the ensuing possession got the lead back to 11 and they never looked back, going on a 21-10 stretch that saw their advantage balloon to 20 with under four minutes to play. MSUD would shave one off the Yellow Jacket lead before the final buzzer sounded, but for all intents and purposes the contest was concluded and when it did conclude BHSU came away with a huge victory over the nationally ranked Roadrunners, 75-56.

Ragsdale matched his first half scoring output in the second stanza with 16, but he only took seven shot attempts to get there, making six of them and compiling a trio of points from the line. He got a lot of help in the second half with Shanklin and Hearne each contributing six, and Williams adding five points and seven boards.

Maldonado did all he could to get the Roadrunners back in the game, scoring 19 in the second half, but he reached that tally on 14 shot attempts. Meanwhile, BHSU held the rest of their guests to just ten points, including holding McGill to just a single tally in the frame.

While the Roadrunners dominated in the paint in the first half, it was BHSU who ended up with the advantage in the second half, 20-14. Additionally, the Yellow Jackets held the MSUD bench scoreless in the second frame and kept the guests to a mere 29.0% shooting from the field, including 18.2% (2-11) from distance, as they pulled away. The hosts, meanwhile, made a robust 58.3% of their shot attempts in the second half.

Black Hills State returns to the Young Center for another huge RMAC showdown as they host the Colorado School of Mines on Saturday afternoon. Tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m.