RAPID CITY, S.D. --- The South Dakota School of Mines men's basketball team split this past weekend to open Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play at the King Center in Rapid City. The Hardrockers lost a heartbreaker to MSU Denver Friday (61-58) but bounced back Saturday posting an impressive 80-63 victory over the University of Colorado Colorado Springs on Saturday.

A big factor in the Hardrockers' competitiveness in the last two outings was the play on the perimeter. Sophomore guard Jake Heath hit 10-12 three-pointers over the weekend and is currently ranked first in the nation for three-point field goal percentage. The Melbourne, Australia, native has converted 22-34 three-point attempts this season for 64.7 percent.

As a whole, the Hardrockers shot 45 and 48 percent in the conference's opening weekend – a trend that SD Mines men's basketball head coach Jason Henry would like to continue through the season.
"Bottom line is that we shot the ball very very well," Henry said about the weekend's contests. "It was fun to watch and it was fun to be a part of."

Heath is averaging 15.2 points per game for the 'Rockers while freshman Troy Brady, who is also shooting very well from the perimeter (16-33 for 49 percent) is scoring 12 points a night. In fact, the duo leads the conference in that category.

Sophomore Logan Elers is a nice compliment under the basket for SD Mines, contributing with 9.7 ppg and is second on the team in rebounding, bringing down 4.7 rpg. Senior Brian Orr and freshman Wilfred Dickson are providing depth for SD Mines as each are scoring just under nine points each game proving that the Hardrockers can get production from a number of players.

Friday, the 'Rockers travel to Lakewood, Colo., to face Colorado Christian University in a RMAC matchup. Despite the 1-7 overall mark and 0-2 showing the conference, CCU is a competitive program when playing in front of its home crowd.

"We face a good Colorado Christian Team --- especially at home," Henry said. "They have three guys that are lighting it up for them right now."

Stefan Hackethal leads the Cougar charge, netting 19.1 points per game (ranks fifth in the RMAC). Teammates Jeremiah Hanson (12.8 ppg) and Isaiah Hanson (10.1) make the Cougars hard to defend.

Last week, CCU fell to Regis University (95-91) and Chadron State (83-59) on the road.  

They don't get much harder for the 'Rockers as SD Mines will face No. 6 Colorado School of Mines Saturday in Golden, Colo. The Orediggers are coming of two big road wins over Chadron State (83-61) and Regis University (69-58) and remain undefeated this season heading into the weekend with a perfect 8-0 record. They also rank first in the RMAC standings with a 2-0 mark.

"They are ranked sixth in the country right now. They are very effective and very efficient on the offensive side of the ball," Henry said. "They have some big strong posts that are going to shoot the ball. It's kind of familiar. That's how I feel we are too. If we get our post players going and they get those touches in the paint, we can play off of that and knock down some shots and be very successful this year."

The Orediggers don't miss. They lead the RMAC shooting 52 percent as a team and have four athletes that are averaging over 10 points a game. Luke Schroepfer leads the way (15.5 ppg), followed closely by Ben Sonnefeld (14.8), Mason Baker (12.1) and Ben Clare (10.9). Clare also leads the team with 5.9 rpg.

Both games this weekend will be at 7 p.m. and can be viewed free on the RMAC Network at: https://portal.stretchinternet.com/sdsmt .