SPEARFISH, S.D. – Matthew Ragsdale (Gr., Colorado Springs, Colo.) just continues to do
Matthew Ragsdale things, scoring 19 of his 26 points in the second half to help his current team, the Black Hills State University men's basketball team, scrape past his former squad, Western Colorado University, 69-65 on a frigid evening at A2 Arena on Saturday night. In a contest that featured three technical fouls, seven lead changes, and a finish you had to witness to believe, the Yellow Jackets came out victorious to get back to the .500 mark.
BHSU now sits having split their 14 games this season but are 5-3 against Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) opponents and are winners of their last eight contests against WCU, their longest active winning streak against any Division-II foe. The Mountaineers on the other hand, fall to 4-10 on the season and have dropped their last seven conference contests since beginning RMAC play with an opening night victory.
Ragsdale's scoring output is his fourth instance of 25 or more points in his past six contests and comes despite shooting just .474 from the field on his 19 shots. His weapon of choice on this night was the free throw line, where he made six of his seven attempts, both of which are the most he has recorded in a game since the second contest of the season. He also secured three rebounds, dished two assists, and grabbed one steal in the win.
Coming on in reserve on this evening,
Joel Speckman (Fr., Parker, Colo.) posted 13 tallies, the most he has compiled since game three, but it was his nine points in the first half of play that were critical as it kept the Yellow Jackets afloat offensively. He finished going six-of-nine from the field, collecting five caroms including two on the offensive end.
Ragsdale and Speckman were the only two Yellow Jackets to finish in double-digits, but they got plenty of other contributions.
Hoku Fisher (So., Wilmington, N.C.) contributed eight points with two steals,
John Shanklin (Sr., Bellevue, Neb.) finished with six points and a team-high seven boards, and it was the best performance in the young career of
Blake Volmer (Fr., Winner, S.D.), as he totaled a career-high seven points with two rebounds and a steal.
Amar Rivers led the Mountaineers with 18 points on six-of-seven from the field while making all five of his free throws. He also distributed a game-best five assists and secured a pair of steals.
Kade Juelfs finished as the leader in shot attempts for Western Colorado with just ten, but he made five of them to score 14 points while Avery Rembao was the final player in double figures, scoring an even ten.
A normally more deliberate offensive team, Black Hills State opted to get out and run in this contest, recording a season-high 16 fast break points against none for the Mountaineers. Many of those stemmed from BHSU's season-best eight steals while also contributing to the team's 17-11 advantage in points off turnovers, while the hosts also dominated in the paint, outscoring WCU, 36-24.
Both teams would open the game shooting the ball as cold as the air outside the arena was. Western Colorado knocked down a three on their first possession, which actually finished as their largest lead in the contest, though they would match it a couple of possessions later. They only connected on two of their next seven shot attempts while committing seven turnovers all before reaching the under-12 timeout. BHSU did not really take advantage of this stretch by WCU with a couple missed free throws, some misses from short range, a few turnovers, and as a result they only held an 11-9 edge through eight minutes and change.
Out of the media break the teams still could not take the lid off the basket as neither team scored a point for nearly two minutes of game time after the timeout before Volmer broke the spell with a layup while getting fouled. Although he would not complete the three-point play, it did light the spark for BH as they scored on three of their next four possessions including back-to-back triples from Fisher as they saw their advantage balloon to eight, their best of the half. The Mountaineers got consecutive scores and Shanklin got four-straight tallies, two from the field and two from the line, to maintain the lead at eight before WCU made their run. With just over four minutes left in the half, they would put together a 12-3 stretch to claim the lead that they looked to take into the locker room although Ragsdale had other plans, stepping back into a three and burying it over the defender to make the score 31-29 into the locker room.
Speckman's nine points and five rebounds led all players in the first half of play while Juelfs led the guests with eight. Contrary to how the tallies would finish, WCU held an 18-16 lead in points in the paint in the stanza, but BHSU held a 4-0 edge in fast break points and a 9-2 advantage in points off turnovers.
Black Hills State would gradually open up a seven-point lead over the first five minutes and change of the second half, before WCU countered. A pair of Rivers free throws, and consecutive three-pointers actually thrust Western Colorado in front, for the first, and ultimately the only, time in the second half. Hoops from Ragsdale and Shanklin grabbed the lead for BHSU before Juelfs connected on a trey to even the score entering a late under-12 media timeout with 10:06 remaining.
Out of the break, the Yellow Jackets put together the biggest run either squad would have on the night.
Caelin Hearne (Jr., Norman, Okla.) made a layup, a steal-to-score for Volmer, two free throws from
Deegan Williams (So.., Gillette, Wyo.), a Ragsdale jumper, a Speckman layup, and Ragsdale made a three. Voila! Jackets by a bakers dozen with less than five to play. BHSU would maintain their 13-point edge, the largest lead they would have in the game, with under two and a half minutes remaining. Juelfs made a shot from range, and Rivers got three points the old fashion way, in quick succession before a scoring lull for about a minute and a half. Still a three-possession game with 32 seconds left, WCU forced a turnover. In chuck-up-threes-and-hope-for-the-best mode on offense, they got one as Xavier Harris cashed in. Ragsdale would get fouled intentionally and make both free throws, then the sequence was duplicated by Rivers for WCU and Fisher for BHSU. Two possession game, but now with nine seconds left. Rembao made WCU's third straight three in 15 seconds of gametime and suddenly it was a two-point game. However,
Matthew Ragsdale would put an end to the madness, calmly making two free throws to ice the game with two seconds left, a half court heave that would not have changed the outcome anyways nearly banked in for Juelfs at the horn, but the score finalized at 69-65.
Ragsdale's 19 points in the second half finished as more points than any other player had in the entire game while Rivers countered with a dozen for WCU. BHSU also dominated the interior, outscoring their guests 20-6 in their home paint in the frame, while pilling up 12 points on the fast break.
The Yellow Jackets hit the road next, traveling to Grand Junction, Colorado for their first away game of 2024 against No. 11/20 Colorado Mesa on Friday. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m.
