RAPID CITY, S.D. --- The South Dakota School of Mines men's basketball team returns home this weekend to kick-off four-straight games in the friendly surroundings of Goodell Gymnasium. The Hardrockers will play host to Chadron State College Friday and Regis University Saturday in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference action.

The Hardrockers finished 1-1 on their Colorado road trip with a win over Colorado Christian (77-64) this past Friday, before falling to the national ranked No. 6 Colorado School of Mines Orediggers (94-67) on Saturday. The split gives SD Mines a 4-4 overall record and 2-2 in the conference which puts the 'Rockers eighth in the RMAC standings.

Hardrocker sophomore Jake Heath leads all of the NCAA Div. II in three-point field goal percentage for the second week in a row. Through eight games the Melbourne, Australia, native is shooting 64.1 percent from behind the arc making good on 25-39 attempts.

Heath leads the team in scoring averaging 13.5 points per game. Fellow sophomore Logan Elers has been on fire the past two games and is contributing 12.4 ppg and 5.5 rebounds each time out for the season. Add freshman Troy Brady (11.5 ppg) to the mix and the Hardrockers are becoming a lot more offensively sound.

Sophomore Tristan Von Nieda missed last weekend with a minor injury, but should return to the lineup very soon to provide a presence in the paint. He leads the team in rebounds (7.5 rpg) and is starting to find his touch on offense.

The Eagles dropped two RMAC bouts last weekend and limp into Friday's matchup with a 3-7 overall record, are 1-3 in the conference, and are 12^th in the RMAC standings. Chadron fell to UCCS, 69-63, Friday and lost to MSU Denver on Saturday, 79-67.

The Eagles' roster has a familiar name in junior Jaisean Jackson. The junior point-guard for CSC played two years as a Hardrocker. He and teammate Dru Kuxhausen lead the Eagles, each averaging nearly 12 points a game.

The Rangers enter weekend play third in the league standings with an 8-1 overall mark and 3-1 record in the conference. Regis won big over MSUD (85-65) and UCCS (70-66) last week.

SD Mines and Regis have a lot in common. They both like to shoot the ball. The Rangers have three guys with 135 points or more on the season. Christian Little and Dexter Sienko lead the charge averaging 16.2 ppg while Jarrett Brodbeck is posting 15.4 ppg. Add in Ty McGee who averages 11.3 ppg and you have a squad that resembles the Hardrockers' balanced attack.

Regis is third in the conference averaging 84 points each game while SD Mines is fourth in the RMAC allowing just 72 points a night. It's going to be a great matchup.

Tipoff on Friday is set for 7:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. on Saturday. Both games can be found and viewed live on the RMAC Network by logging onto: https://portal.stretchinternet.com/sdsmt/ .