SPEARFISH, S.D. –  It has taken some time, but finally, after 33 halves of basketball, the Black Hills State University Men's Basketball team closed out the weekend looking like the Yellow Jackets of old, with a trio of superb halves of play on their way to a weekend sweep of New Mexico Highlands University and CSU Pueblo. Now, with momentum finally on their side, BHSU heads into their most crucial Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) matchup to date when they venture to Rapid City for the 208^th Black Hills Brawl against the South Dakota School of Mines on Wednesday, January 31^st beginning at 7:30 PM.

With their pair of victories, the Yellow Jackets got back to the .500 mark at 9-9, including 7-5 against conference foes, leapfrogging their other archrivals, Chadron State, in the process to stand in sole possession of fourth place in the conference. Now, they look to gain a bit of distance between themselves and the Eagles, when they seek revenge for their non-conference defeat at the hands of the Hardrockers back in November.

GAME INFORMATION
Black Hills State (9-9, 7-5 RMAC) vs. South Dakota Mines (8-10, 6-6 RMAC)
Date: Wednesday, January 31 // Time: 7:30 p.m.
Location: Rapid City, S.D. (King Center)
Watch: rmacnetwork.com // Listen: KDSJ (103.5 FM & 980 AM)

WEDNESDAY vs. SOUTH DAKOTA MINES
South Dakota Mines may have put the conference on notice a little bit when they upset the Yellow Jackets right before RMAC play began, and they have ridden that momentum into their best non-COVID season since 2019-20. Sure, their overall record of 8-10 on the season does not jump out at you, but similar to BHSU, they did endure a difficult non-conference schedule and they have been solid in conference play, sweeping CSU Pueblo, and handling both Regis and UCCS while pushing the then #16/18 and the now #14/22 Colorado Mines, and #8/21 Fort Lewis to the brink.

Always fundamentally sound, the Hardrockers' biggest strength is that they simply do not make mistakes as they are the best in the conference, and rank 38^th in the nation committing just 10.9 turnovers per game with a +2.4 turnover margin. SD Mines is always dangerous with the volume of three-point attempts they will take allowing them to pile up points in a hurry. They fire up 25.7 attempts per game, converting on 9.1, both of which rank second in the league, and even if their 35.2% three-point percentage does not look as good, if you catch them on a hot night, things can get real tricky, real quick. The Hardrockers' also convert their free throws at a high rate (74.3%) and do not commit many fouls (16.8 per game) which is quite important because they are simply not a very deep team, receiving a mere 7.7 points per game from their reserves, a mark that is last in the RMAC and does not even appear in the national ranks. The same is true for their fast break points, of which they score just 4.9 per contest.

The driving force behind South Dakota Mines' offense is their guard tandem of Alejandro Rama and Cameron Cohn who have combined to take 48.2% of their shot attempts this season. Rama is their top player, a dynamic point guard he leads the Hardrockers in most statistics, including assists per game (5.7), steals per game (1.94), field goal makes and attempts (118-278), three point makes and attempts (47-138), and even blocks per game (1.0). He scored 18.0 points per game, although it is worth noting that he's not efficient in that endeavor as he leads the RMAC in three-point shot attempts this season and is second in total shot attempts. Cohn is their leading scorer putting in 19.0 points per game while piling up the free throw attempts, of which he has received a conference-best 138 of, well more than double that of any other Hardrocker. SD Mines has two other double-digit scorers. Keagan Smith is an efficient scorer putting in 11.7 points per game on a .520/.438/.800 shooting line while being the team's leading rebounder at 5.3 per game. Kolton Frugoli averages 11.3 tallies for SD Mines. Both Frugoli and Walsh also join Rama in the nation's top-110 in minutes per game. Brannagh Walsh will likely round out the Hardrockers' starting five.

MATCHUP HISTORY
This will be the 208th all-time meeting between the Yellow Jackets and the Hardrockers, with Black Hills State holding the advantage all-time, 114-93 although the series is tied, 12-12 in the DII era. BHSU has dominated lately, having won 10 of the last 13 meetings, but they fell in the team's matchup in A2 Arena back in November.

In the Ryan Thompson era, BHSU is 8-3 vs. SD Mines and have won four of the five matchups at the King Center.

A BHSU WIN WOULD...
Get BHSU above the .500 mark for the first time all season… Be BHSU's third-straight win making it their longest winning streak of the season… Give BHSU a full 1.0 game lead over Chadron State for fourth place (hosting rights for RMAC Quarterfinals).

A BHSU LOSS WOULD...
Be the first time BHSU got swept in the regular season by the Hardrockers since the 2016-17 season… Drop BHSU into a tie for fourth place with Chadron State.

GETTING (CAEL)INVOLVED
Despite a two-game lull against Western Colorado and Colorado Mesa, Caelin Hearne has been surging over BHSU's last nine games, scoring double-digits in seven of those contests, good for the best stretch of his career. He is averaging 14.6 points per game in that span (8.6 prior) and 12.6 in RMAC contests (9.5 non-conference) while shooting .515 from the field and .441 from three. Defensively, Hearne is averaging 0.56 blocks and 1.2 steals in the same nine games.

Narrowing that range to the last three games, Hearne has been playing with the aggression that the writer of these game notes was frankly expecting all season. His shot attempts have skyrocketed to 14.0 per game .458/.481/.750 (23-42/13-27/3-4) to score 20.7 points per game. He is also averaging 5.0 rebounds (1.7 offensive) and 1.3 steals per game in those games.

WILLIAMS WOWS
Deegan Williams exploded against CSU Pueblo, posting a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds while making five-of-seven from the field and four-of-six from three. He is the second Yellow Jacket to record a double-double this season (Joel Speckman, 11/17). He is the first BHSU guard to record a double-double since Adam Moussa recorded a triple-double on 2/10/23.

TALE OF THE TAPE
Ronnail Tape is averaging 4.8 points per game with a .378/.313/.666 shooting line this season as a starter. As a reserve he has thrived, with his numbers rising to 10.6 points on .608/.464/.666 from the field. He has scored more total points as a reserve (85) than he has as a starter (48) despite having ten starts against just eight appearances as a reserve.

MATHEW RAGSDALE NOTES
After opening RMAC play with a down performance against Regis, Matthew Ragsdale is averaging 22.4 points per game in the other 11 games in RMAC play. He is shooting .486/.340/.895 in those games,

Ragsdale also 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 in NCAA history. (Per NCAA)

POINTS UNTIL 1000 AT BHSU: 153

RECENT TRENDS
-For Matthew Ragsdale and Caelin Hearne; See Above

-Deegan Williams has an 15/4 assist/turnover ratio over his last seven games, recording multiple assists in all but one of those games while averaging 2.6.

-Black Hills State has posted double-digit assists in each of their last eight games (14.6 average), they had just five such games in the ten games prior (9.1 average)

AGAINST SOUTH DAKOTA MINES
-In their first matchup this season against South Dakota Mines, BHSU got 23 points from Matthew Ragsdale, shooting 10-18 and grabbing a season-high seven rebounds. Caelin Hearne added a then career-high 17 points while Deegan Williams added six points off the bench.

-Caelin Hearne averages 10.7 points per game across his three career starts against South Dakota Mines, his best against any RMAC foe who he has at least three starts against. That mark rises to 13.5 over his last two starts while grabbing 5.5 rebounds His 3.3 rebounds per game in four career appearances against SD Mines is his second highest against any team.

-In five career starts against South Dakota Mines, Matthew Ragsdale averages 21.6 points shooting .525/.354/.778 in those games. His 5.8 rebounds and 1.0 steals in those starts are his highest mark against any RMAC team.

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.

Eric Glenn is also in his sixth year leading the Hardrockers and has three decades of coaching experience under his belt, he has a career record of 58-80 as the bench boss for the Hardrockers.

Up Next: Black Hills State will travel to Lakewood, Colorado too face off against Colorado Christian University on Saturday at 7 PM.

A NOTE FROM THE WRITER: Thank you Yellow Jacket Nation! Your passion is infectious and made my year and a half at Black Hills State unforgettable. Thank you for everything.

Bryce Johnson, signing off.