SPEARFISH, S.D. – The Black Hills State men's basketball team (15-12, 13-8 RMAC) took care of business on the home floor on the final Friday night of the regular season, taking down the Cougars of Colorado Christian (10-17, 6-15 RMAC) 65-56 behind 30 points from Matthew Ragsdale.
 
Hoku Fisher (So., Wilmington, N.C.) didn't waste any time tonight, hitting a deep ball from the far corner to start the game in front of the home crowd. At the first media break, it was low scoring as it was knotted up at 5-5 early on. Fisher and John Shanklin (Sr., Bellevue, Neb.) both had four of the team's early nine points as the Cougars held the slim 12-11 lead at the under-12 time out.
 
By the midway point of the first half, both teams began to heat up from the floor, shaking off slower starts. The Cougars maintained a 17-15 advantage as the third media time out, as a trio of Yellow Jackets had posted four points. The Cougars would build up a lead as large as seven points later in the half. Out of the final media break of the half, BH went on a 6-0 run to pull within one-point at 24-23 and a step back 3-pointer for Ragsdale (Gr., Colorado Springs, Colo.) gave the Yellow Jackets the lead back with a minute left in the half with the Jackets using a 9-0 run to end the first half.
 
Caelin Hearne (Jr., Norman, Okla.) drilled a deep ball in front of the BH bench in the early minutes to give the Yellow Jackets their largest lead of the night at 29-24. The run would continue with an and-one play from Hearne, scoring the first six BH points in the second half, as the run was pushed up to 15-1 and BHSU leading 32-25. Heading into the first media break of the second half, BHSU had extended their lead up to eight points at 35-27.
 
With a jumper, Ragsdale would push the Black Hills State lead up to double digits for the first time on the night at 43-33 as the Cougars called a time out to talk things over. Colorado Christian would hit a 3-pointer on their first possession out of the time out to pull back within single digits. But it would be the RMAC's leading scorer in Ragsdale, chasing his season average, who would continue to knock down shots to keep CCU at bay. The deep ball continued to pump up the Yellow Jacket lead approaching five minutes to play. It quickly became the Ragsdale and Deegan Williams (So., Gillette, Wyo.) show as the two would light up the scoreboard in both scoring and dropping dimes. Colorado Christian would pull back to within single digits with just over a minute remaining, but proficient clock management and converting at the free throw line would allow BHSU to walk out of the gym with the 65-56 victory over Colorado Christian.
 
GAME NOTES

• With the MSU Denver loss to Fort Lewis, Black Hills State moves into sole possession of fourth-place in the RMAC.
• Matthew Ragsdale had 30 points to lead all scorers, knocking down six 3-pointers and scoring 21 points in the second half.
• He put up his 17^th 20-point game and fourth 30-point game of the season.
• BH shot 10-for-13 (76.9%) from the free throw line as a team.
• The Jackets had four blocks as a team in the win.
• The BH defense held a CCU offense that averages 70+ points a game to just 56 points on 29.5% shooting from the floor.
• Hoku Fisher and Deegan Williams both brought down six rebounds to lead the team.
• BHSU takes the 11-10 all-time series lead over the Cougars, now winning six-straight meetings.

Up Next: Black Hills State concludes the regular season tomorrow night with a clash against the Eagles of Chadron State College (12-15, 9-12 RMAC) at 6:00 p.m. from the Donald E. Young Center.