RAPID CITY, S.D. --- The South Dakota School of Mines men's basketball team will make one of its longer road trips of the season this weekend heading to Pueblo, Colo., on Friday and Las Vegas, N.M. on Saturday in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference action.

Despite their overall 6-6 record, the Hardrockers are an extremely competitive team and have the ability to hang with the best opponents the RMAC has to offer.

New Mexico Highlands traveled to Rapid City this past Saturday, where they stole a win from the 'Rockers, 75-67, after the visitors took advantage of a 'Rocker scoring drought late in the game.

The Cowboys secured their third-straight conference road win thanks to Nmamdi Okoro's 25 points and 13 rebound double-double. NMHU shot 50-percent (27-54) including 5-17 from behind the arch. They also notched 35 rebounds and 10 assists.
 
For the Hardrockers, senior Brian Orr led the team with 17 points and Logan Elers followed with 14 markers. SDSMT shot 36.4 percent from the field but led the game with 37 rebounds and 13 assists.

SD Mines heads into the weekend with a 3-4 mark and sit in ninth place in the conference standings. The Hardrockers are scoring 72.7 points per game and allowing 70 ppg from opponents.

'Rocker sophomore Logan Elers leads the team with 13 ppg down low while freshman Troy Brady (12.1 ppg) and sophomore Jake Heath (10.8 ppg) are deadly around the perimeter. Orr is also starting to find his stride, dishing in 9.9 ppg and giving opponents fits with his fade-away shooting ability. Add in the potential return of sophomore Tristan Von Nieda this weekend and SD Mines is turning into a squad that opponents do not want to face.

Next on the schedule is the CSU-Pueblo ThunderWolves Friday in Pueblo, Colo. The Pack is 5-8 on the season and 2-5 in the RMAC. There are listed 11^th in the league rankings after falling to Black Hills State, 78-54, Saturday in Spearfish, S.D.

CSU-Pueblo's Will Newman scored 14 points to lead his team, including a career-high of three three-pointers. Newman also had five assists, four rebounds and three steals. The Yellow Jackets shot 48.3 percent from the field, while the ThunderWolves shot 31.1 percent.

The T-Wolves score a lot points, posting 79.5 ppg --- but are giving up 81.5 ppg to their opponents. CSUP has three players scoring double digits each night, with Newman leading the charge with 16.9 ppg. Mika Nuolivirta is good for 12.6 ppg and Donovan Oldham cashes in for 12.5 ppg.

Rebounding is another strength for CSU-Pueblo with Jason Anderson averaging 7.0 rpg for his squad while Oldham collects 6.5 rpg and Newman brings down 5.8 rpg.

If the 'Rockers can get back to shooting about 40 percent (season average is .470), the have a good chance of getting another road victory.

Friday's game is slated for a 7:30 p.m. tipoff and the matchup is available to watch on the RMAC Network by logging onto: https://portal.stretchinternet.com/sdsmt/ .

On Saturday, SD Mines will be in Las Vegas, N.M., for a rematch with the NMHU Cowboys. The Hardrockers are hoping for something similar to last season when the teams traded wins on each other's court.

New Mexico Highlands heads into the weekend scoring 82.5 points per game, led by Jacob Hollands, who averages 14.8 ppg. Four other players are average in double-figures, including Chris Lewis (10.7 ppg), who leads the team and the RMAC in rebounding, pulling down 8.8 boards per game.

SD Mines can find success by bottling up Okoro in the paint and forcing the Cowboys to make attempts on the perimeter where they are shooting 38 percent.

The matchup is scheduled for a 7 p.m. (MST) tipoff.