RAPID CITY, S.D. --- The South Dakota School of Mines men's basketball team will host its first games of the New Year this weekend at the King Center in Rapid City, S.D.
The Hardrockers, who are 8-6 overall after winning four of their last six Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference games, play host to CSU-Pueblo Friday followed by a rematch with New Mexico Highlands Saturday. Goodell Gymnasium has been a warm home to the Hardrockers who have a 6-1 mark on their home court.
"Friday night we play, who I think, is one of the Top 2 or 3 teams in the league," said Hardrocker men's basketball head coach
Jason Henry of his upcoming opponent. "They've won six or seven in a row now, they're a very high-scoring team."
CSU-Pueblo (8-4) has been on a roll since entering RMAC play, losing just one of their seven conference contests. Mark Williams leads the ThunderWolves in scoring with 14.4 points per game while shooting over 57 percent from the field. Interestingly, Williams has only started one game this season.
"We have to get back to a more defensive focus," Henry said on how he wants to see his team improve. "We need to get those stops on the defensive end."
CSUP is shooting 51.3 percent from the field this season, which is second in the RMAC and they sits 13th nationally. CSU-Pueblo shot above 50 percent in each of the first eight games and nine of the 12 contests. The Pack have three players shooting above 55 percent, guided by Nelson Kahler's 62.8 percent, which ranks second in the RMAC.
The ThunderWolves leading scorer is Mark Williams with 14.4 points per game (13th in the RMAC). He is shooting 57.7 percent from the field (eight in RMAC) and adds 5.8 rebounds per game.
Saturday the Hardrockers will host New Mexico Highlands. The 'Rockers were just in Las Vegas, New Mexico on Dec. 30 to play Highlands, whom they defeated by 15 points (81-66).
The Cowboys are 4-8 on the season and had won two straight games before meeting the Hardrockers. Senior Marlon Johnson leads the Cowboys in minutes played, rebounds (10.1 rebounds per game) and is second in scoring with just over 13 points per game.
"Highlands is a team we just played," said Coach Henry. "We showed up on their home court and kind of took it to them, and I'm sure they aren't going to be real happy about that. Hopefully we can shoot the ball well again. If we don't, we need to make sure we limit our turnovers and find another way to win."
The Hardrockers are led in scoring by senior
Konor Kulas who is scoring more than 19 per contest. However, three other 'Rockers have averaged double-figures for scoring this season: senior
Jamall Taylor (10.7), junior
Brian Orr (10.4), and senior
Marco Pascolo (10.1). Freshman
Jake Heath has scored 8.7 points per game while leading the Hardrockers in assists with 41 on the season.
SD Mines is currently sitting in seventh in the RMAC standings with a 4-4 conference mark, a game ahead of the University of Colorado Colorado Springs (3-4) in eighth. The RMAC post-season tournament, which is still two months away.
"If you can end up at .500 or over .500 you have a great chance to make the tournament," Henry said. "But you never know what is going to happen. The format for the tournament is the Top 8 teams advance and that's been our goal from Day 1. But there is still a lot of season left."
Friday's game is slated for a 7:30 p.m. (MST) start while Saturday's game gets underway at 5:30 p.m. Both games will be available to watch at the RMAC Network on Stretch Internet by logging onto:
https://portal.stretchinternet.com/sdsmt/ .
