SPEARFISH, S.D. –  In a contest that stands as the halfway marker for the Black Hills State University men's basketball team, as they welcome Western Colorado University on Saturday evening at 6:00 PM at A2 Arena in the Donald E. Young Center.

Winners of four of their last six games since dropping their conference opening contest, the Yellow Jackets look to get back to the .500 mark with their single matchup this weekend after giving no. 10/24 Fort Lewis everything they could handle a week ago.

BHSU invites all attendees to break out their favorite jersey for Jersey Night presented by SAAC.

GAME INFORMATION
Black Hills State (6-7, 4-3 RMAC) vs. Western Colorado (4-8, 1-5 RMAC)
Date: Saturday, January 13 // Time: 6:00 p.m.
Location: Spearfish, S.D. (A2 Arena – Donald E. Young Center)
Watch: rmacnetwork.com // Listen: KDSJ (103.5 FM & 980 AM)

SATURDAY vs. WESTERN COLORADO
It's been a rough go of it thus far this season for the Mountaineers, as they are 4-8 overall and 1-5 against Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) foes thus far this season.

Statistically, they rank in the bottom-half of the RMAC in virtually every significant statistic, among them scoring offense in which they rank last in the conference averaging just 61.0 points per game. Western Colorado barely ranks outside the top-half of the conference in bench scoring as they are eighth with a mark of 23.46 points per game from their reserves. They also do well avoiding fouls as they are sixth committing 17.2 per game. Despite their woes, WCU is actually among the best defensive teams in the RMAC this season as they are third in scoring defense at 69.7 points allowed per game.

Western Colorado only has one player who ranks in the NCAA statistical ranks for any category with that being Kade Juelfs who's 216th nationally and 15th in the RMAC in free throw percentage with a mark of 78.3% from the line. Juelfs is the team's leading scorer, averaging 11.5 points per game, shooting .472 from the field and .426 from three. Avery Rembau joins him in double-figures scoring 10.5 points per contest while Jamel Hollins is a rare case of being a team's top rebounder and distributer averaging 5.9 caroms and 2.3 assists per game.

COACHES
Head coach Ryan Thompson is entering his sixth season leading the Yellow Jackets, having taken the program to back-to-back NCAA DII Final Fours, and the RMAC tournament each of the last five years.

In his first season as bench boss for the Mountaineers, Zac Klaus stands with a 4-8 record for WCU after spending the past four seasons at the helm at the University of Idaho.

MATCHUP HISTORY
The head-to-head matchup between Black Hills State and Western Colorado has historically been very one-sided in favor of the Yellow Jackets. Their 13-3 all-time record and .813 winning percentage against the Mountaineers is their best mark all-time against active RMAC opponents.  BHSU actually lost the first two matchups they had against Western Colorado back in the 2012-13 season, but they have steamrolled WCU since, losing just once in their last 14 matchups (90-76 on 1/27/18). Black Hills State snuck past Western Colorado, 78-73 in Gunnison in their lone matchup last season.

The Yellow Jackets have won each of the last seven matchups, all of which have come in the Ryan Thompson-era. Their seven consecutive wins over Western Colorado is currently tied with Adams State for the longest active winning streak against an RMAC foe. Thompson has never lost to WCU with his 7-0 mark against them standing as his best mark against any RMAC foe.

A BHSU WIN WOULD...
Be BHSU's eighth-straight win over Western Colorado bringing it to the second-longest winning streak the program has against any foe on record and their best against any Division-II opponent. Their eight-straight wins would trail only their ten-straight victories against Maryville State University for their longest win streak against any foe on record.... Get BHSU back to the .500 mark again.

A BHSU LOSS WOULD...
Be their first loss to the Mountaineers since falling to WCU, 90-76 on January 27, 2018… Be the first time BHSU held a .500 record or worse in conference play in January or later for the first time since the 2017-18 season.

GETTING (CAEL)INVOLVED
Caelin Hearne has played some of the best basketball of his career over his last four games spanning both sides of winter break. He has scored double-digits in each game, the longest streak of his career thus far, averaging 14.5 points per contest while making 57.5% of his shot attempts including 54.5% of his attempts from three. He has also dished 1.0 assists and secured 4.0 rebounds per game in that stretch. Defensively, he has averaged 1.0 block and 1.0 steals per game as well.

Slowed only by some foul trouble, Caelin had arguably the best game of his career last Saturday against Fort Lewis, falling just one point shy of his career-high with 16 points across just 20 minutes, doing so while makeing four of his five attempts from three and six of seven overall.

CAUGHT A BIG FISH)ER)
Hoku Fisher has scored double-digits in three consecutive games for BHSU, the longest stretch of his career thus far, averaging 13.3 points per gam in that span. While his efficiency has slightly dipped, his distributing has surged dishing a then career-high five assists against New Mexico Highlands before re-setting his career-best mark with six against Fort Lewis. Defensively, he's compiled three blocks and four steals in that span.

MATHEW RAGSDALE NOTES
Matthew Ragsdale has scored 20 or more points in four of his last five games with scoring outputs of 32 (twice, his Yellow Jacket career-high) and 29 in that stretch. He is averaging 26.2 points per game in that stretch shooting .533/.347/.857 (48-90/17-49/18-21) in that span. His 131 total points is the most he's scored in any five-game stretch as a Yellow Jacket.

Ragsdale has a chance to score 1000 points in his Yellow Jackets career. If he does so, it is believed that he will be the first to do so at the DII level all time. (Per NCAA)

POINTS UNTIL 1000 AT BHSU: 252

TALE OF THE TAPE
Ronnail Tape is averaging 5.7 points per game with a .400/.333/.666 shooting line this season as a starter. As a reserve he has thrived however, with his numbers rising to 9.6 points on .529/.545/.750 from the field. He has scored more total points as a reserve (58) than he has as a starter (40) despite having seven starts against just six appearances as a reserve.

SHANKLIN'S SURGE
Shanklin completed the best weekend of basketball of his collegiate career last weekend. He compiled 23 points across the two games, the most he's scored in any two-game stretch of his career, while going 10-14 from the field and making all three of his free throws. He also matched his career-high for blocks with three against Fort Lewis, finishing with four total alongside a steal.

BHSU STATS
-Despite ranking tenth in the RMAC in total rebounding average with just 34.0 per game. BHSU excels at getting the most important caroms, finishing defensive possessions better than any team in the conference with 28.31 defensive rebounds per game ranking 23rd in the nation.

-Always analytically sound, BHSU's .552 effective field goal percentage is the third-best in the RMAC and ranks 42nd nationally.

-Despite being just 6-7 on the season, BHSU has plenty of reason to anticipate a strong finish. As usual, the Yellow Jackets feature an efficient offense to go with their exceptional defense. They rank fifth in the RMAC in team field goal percentage at .482 while they limit the opposition to just a .418 shooting mark. They are one of three teams in the RMAC in the top-five in both those categories with the others being Colorado Mesa and Colorado Mines who enter the weekend at 11-2 and 12-3 overall respectively.

RECENT TRENDS
-In addition to his scoring that is noted above, Hearne has been great defensively of late, collecting at minimum one steal or block (aka "stock") in each of his last seven games, with three instances of at least one steal and one block during that stretch.

- Hoku Fisher is averaging 11.6 points, 2.7 assists (including a career-high six on Jan 6), 1.2 steals and 0.4 blocks in his last six games. His biggest impact has been felt on the glass in that span, securing 6.2 per game, including a career-high 11 on Dec. 9. His to 4.69 defensive rebounds per game this season rank sixth in the RMAC and in the top-200 nationally.

-As a team, BHSU is averaging 16.7 assists across their last three games, a big difference from their 10.8 mark overall this season. In those games, the Yellow Jackets have posted assist-turnover ratios of 15-15, 19-15, and 16-13 with those showings being three of five games in which they've had an assist-turnover ratio of 1-1 or better.

AGAINST WESTERN COLORADO
-In his lone career matchup against his former team, Matthew Ragsdale scored 18 points to go with five rebounds and two assists last season against WCU. He shot .556/.500/.600 in that game, earning ten free throw attempts in the contest, a mark that still stands as the most he's had in a game with BHSU.

-John Shanklin has three career appearances against Western Colorado, averaging 3.3 points per game in those games, his second-highest mark against any RMAC foe.

-Only three Yellow Jackets have ever faced WCU; Ragsdale, Shanklin, and Caelin Hearne.

Up Next: Black Hills State will hit the road next weekend for a pair of RMAC contests against Colorado Mesa (11-2, 7-0 RMAC) and Westminster (4-9, 0-7 RMAC) on January 19-20.