No. 8/10 Black Hills State men's basketball enters the 2023 RMAC Tournament as the No. 3 seed, and is set to host No. 6-seeded Westminster in the quarterfinal round on Tuesday, Feb. 28 at 7 p.m.
The Yellow Jackets finished the 2022-23 regular season with a 24-4 overall record, matching a program-best 24 regular season wins. On the latest national polls, BHSU came in at 8th in the nation on the D2SIDA Media Poll and 10th on the NABC Coaches Poll. Regionally, the team is second in the South Central Regional Poll.
Tickets for Tuesday's games are now available for purchaseÂ
HERE.
All tickets are general admission only, and are $10 for adults, and $5 for youth (ages 6-17) and senior (65+) tickets. All college students with a valid student ID, and children five and under can attend for free.
TUESDAY vs. WESTMINSTER
The Griffins split their final two games of the regular season, losing to Colorado Mesa 92-68 before defeating Western Colorado, 98-81 in their season finale to finish 13-15 overall and 12-10 in RMAC play.
WC was a better team than their record alludes to, ranking fourth in the RMAC in shooting from the field (48.5) and in field goal defense (42.7). They also finished the season ranked fourth in rebounding margin, averaging 4.4 more rebounds than their opponents.
The Yellow Jackets are 6-3 all-time against Westminster, although BHSU has won each of their last three matchups, and four of their last five.
GRIFFINS' LAST TIME OUT
Trey Farrer scored 22 points in the final road game of the regular season and Westminster ended their 2022-23 season in sixth place in the RMAC standings after a 98-81 win over Western Colorado on Friday night.
Taylor Miller added 20 points and Donaval Avila scored 15 for the Griffins. Westminster's 98 points is the most they've scored in a win since 2015-16 (98-97 OT win over The Master's.)
The Griffins will wrap up their season with one of the best home records winning 11 of their 13 games in Salt Lake City and capturing their second road win of the season in Gunnison.
Jaelan McCloud scored 16 points to lead the Mountaineers, who fall to 2-20 on the year.
LAST MATCHUP: BHSU vs. WC (Jan. 14, 2023)
Black Hills State men's basketball got back into the win column Saturday night with a 66-57 victory over Westminster.
The Yellow Jackets (14-1, 8-1 RMAC) used a 35-21 second half to overcome a slow start, while shooting at a 45.5 percent clip from deep in the final period.
Joel Scott led all scorers with 21 points to go along with 14 rebounds for his seventh double-double of the season. He also tallied three assists, two steals and a block.
Matthew Ragsdale finished with 14 points and a block, going 5-of-10 from the field.
Caelin Hearne had a career game, going 3-of-3 from deep and 4-of-4 from the field in an 11-point, three rebound performance. He also put up a block and a steal.
Adam Moussa tied for the team lead with three assists on the night.
Seven quick points from Ragsdale helped BHSU out to an early 11-6 lead four minutes into the game. WC scored six straight from there to take a 12-11 lead before back-and-forth play commenced.
The next four minutes saw four lead changes and three ties as the Griffins held a 17-16 advantage midway through the first half. BHSU would trail 29-19 as the clock ticked under six minutes to play before layups from Ragsdale and Moussa and a Hearne triple helped draw them back to within five, 36-31, at the break.
Out of the locker room, a Hayes layup and back-to-back threes from Scott and Hearne brought BHSU back to within one, 40-39, with 17:48 to go.
Both offenses fell quiet over the next several minutes before a Moussa three at 10:29 made it 45-44, and then a Scott layup on their next possession gave the Yellow Jackets a 46-45 lead with under 10 to play.
Those possessions led to an 11-0 scoring run, capped by another Hearne 3-pointer to extend the BHSU lead to 51-45 with 7:50 remaining. A few possessions later, Hearne came up big again with a steal and score to make it 55-49.
Jaeton Hackley extended the Yellow Jacket lead into double figures with a three as the clock ticked under four to make it 60-49.
In the closing minutes, a 4-of-6 free throw performance and the help of a Dukic layup would ultimately seal the 66-57 victory.
YELLOW JACKETS' LAST TIME OUT
Black Hills State men's basketball dropped its season finale to Chadron State, 88-86 Thursday night.
Despite shooting 52.2 percent from the field, the Yellow Jackets (24-4, 18-4 RMAC) connected on just 7-of-27 attempts from deep and surrendered 29 free throw attempts, of which the Eagles connected on 25.
Joel Scott led the scoring with 29 points to go with eight rebounds, five assists and two steals.
Matthew Ragsdale and
Adam Moussa also shot in double-figures, tallying 18 and 16, respectively. Ragsdale sank a team-high four threes while Moussa finished with six rebounds, eight assists and a steal.
Sindou Cisse finished with four rebounds and four assists while
Ryker Cisarik totaled eight points and two steals.
A Cisse layup opened the scoring in what would be a back-and-forth start before a Ragsdale 3-pointer put the Yellow Jackets ahead 15-9 with 12:34 to go in the first.
The Eagles would inch back and score seven unanswered to move ahead, 16-15. But BHSU answered with layups from Moussa and Scott before a Ragsdale triple created some separation and turned into a 12-0 scoring run that put BHSU ahead 29-18 at 9:05.
A 5-of-18 showing from behind the arc in the first half allowed CSC to creep back ahead from there, 41-40 with under two minutes before the half, but a Scott layup and Cisarik dunk sent the Yellow Jackets into the locker room, leading 44-41.
Teams traded blows out of the break, seeing six lead changes over the first six minutes until a Cisarik layup, a pair of Scott free throws and a Moussa jumper gave the Yellow Jackets their largest lead since halftime, 59-55 at the under-12 media break.
CSC wasn't done, though, re-taking a 62-61 lead as time ticked under 10 to go, and a trio of free throws extended their lead to 65-61.Â
Jumpers from Scott and Moussa pulled BHSU back even with CSC, 67-all, before a Scott layup put the Yellow Jackets back out in front, 69-67 with 7:13 remaining.
Back-and-forth play continued and saw CSC take the lead once again. As the clock ticked under four, CSC still held a slight advantage, 79-77.
The Yellow Jackets continued to trail until a pair of free throws from Scott at 1:20 gave the team its first lead, 84-83, in over five minutes of play.
CSC quickly re-took the lead from there, however, and eventually won, 88-86.
YELLOW JACKETS RANKED
The Yellow Jackets are ranked eighth in the D2SIDA National Media Poll and 10th in the NABC Coaches Poll. BHSU is now in a tie for second in the South Central Regional Poll.
Statistically, BHSU is top-10 in the nation in four different categories, including second in defensive rebounds per game (31.2), sixth in three-point percentage defense (29.6), and 10th field goal percentage defense (39.9) and made threes per game (10.8).
As a team, BHSU leads the RMAC in six key statistical categories, and is also top-five in 16 categories.
A BHSU WIN WOULD...
Advance them to the RMAC Semifinals for the third straight season to take on the winner between No. 2 seed Fort Lewis and No. 7 seed Regis.
A BHSU LOSS WOULD...
Eliminate them from the RMAC Tournament with the NCAA Tournament next up.
COACHES
Head coach
Ryan Thompson is in his fifth season leading the Yellow Jackets, having taken the program to its first NCAA tournament in the 2021-22 season, and the RMAC tournament each of the last five years.
Westminster's Head Coach, Norm Parrish, is in his eighth season leading the Griffins, and has helped moved the program forward through its transition to NCAA DII.
KEY RETURNERS
BHSU returns all of its starters from the 2021-22 season, and nearly all of its key contributors, including
Ryker Cisarik,
Sindou Cisse,
Sava Dukic,
Adam Moussa,
Tommy Donovan,
John Shanklin,
PJ Hayes, and RMAC Player of the Year,
Joel Scott.
DYNAMIC DUO
The Yellow Jackets added transfer
Matthew Ragsdale ahead of the 2022-23 season, who had previously spent all three seasons of his career at Western Colorado where he totaled 1,309 points over 73 games and 2,185 minutes played. In the 2021-22 season, Ragsdale finished second in the RMAC in scoring with 601 total points and 21.5 per game, behind only
Joel Scott.
Ragsdale rejoins former high school teammate, Scott, after they played together at Lewis-Palmer High School in Colorado where in their senior season they went an undefeated 28-0 to win the Colorado 4A State Championship.
This year, they are both in their senior year of eligibility and have the chance to combine for the most total points in a season by a pair of NCAA teammates who also played on the same high school team. Currently, the highest combined total is 1,047 points, accumulated by Dick (535 points) and Tom Van Arsdale (512) in the 1963-64 season at Indiana. The twins played high school basketball together at Emmerich Manual High School in Indianapolis, Ind.
Current 2022-23 Ragsdale/Scott Point Total:
1,029
-BHSUAthletics.com-
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