RAPID CITY, S.D. --- The South Dakota School of Mines men's basketball team is back on the road to Colorado for the second-straight weekend, this time traveling to Colorado Springs on Friday and Denver on Saturday.

The Hardrockers have a pair of Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference rematch bouts on the schedule against University of Colorado Colorado Springs on Friday and MSU Denver on Saturday. Both opponents were in Rapid City back at the beginning of December.

The Hardrockers, who are now 6-14 on the season and 3-12 in the conference, dropped a pair of very competitive --- and entertaining --- RMAC games in Gunnison, Colo., against Western State Colorado last Friday; and in Grand Junction, Colo., last Saturday versus Colorado Mesa.

SD Mines has gone through some changes since the beginning of December. Sophomore Logan Elers has emerged as the team's top scorer, averaging 14 ppg, the top rebounder (5.9 rpg), and has the best field goal shooting percentage (.568).

'Rocker freshman Troy Brady has also come a long way in the last two months. He is known as a sharp shooter on the perimeter, but more recently, he has added an aggressive drive through the lane in attempt to score. It seems to be working as he's averaging 11.9 ppg.

With the return of sophomore big man Tristan Von Nieda, the topography of the Hardrockers'offense is changing again and it really make the Hardrockers a lot more difficult to scheme against for opponents.

UCCS is on a four-game win streak improving their overall record to 10-11 and 7-8 in the RMAC.
 
Elijah Ross leads the team in scoring, averaging 15.6 ppg. Teammates Justin Smith (10.6 pgg), Dalton Walker (10.2 ppg) and Brandon Malone (11.6 ppg) have also had a big key to the Mountain Lions' turnaround.  

Friday's game is slated for a 7:30 p.m. (MST) start in Colorado Springs. The game is available to watch on the RMAC Network at: https://portal.stretchinternet.com/uccs/ .

MSU Denver stumbled over the weekend, losing both of their conference matchups. Hosting UCCS on Thursday, the Roadrunners fell by double-digits to the Mountain Lions, 84-72. MSU Denver's Cameron Williams led all scorers with 26 points, in addition to six boards, four steals, and two assists.

MSUD then fell short in Utah to Westminster College. The Griffins defeated the Roadrunners in a tightly contested matchup, 60-57. The Griffins maintained their lead despite a late comeback by MSU Denver. The Roadrunners are currently third in the conference with an overall record of 11-10 and RMAC record of 10-5.

The Roadrunners are led by Williams, who is scoring 20.5 ppg. Teammates Peter Moller (12.6 ppg) and Jaryn Taylor (10.5 ppg) are also making their team a strong offensive unit. Metro State is scoring 71.8 points per game while the defense allows only 70.6 ppg.

Saturday's game will be a 7 p.m. (MST) tipoff and the contest will be available on the RMAC Network at: https://portal.stretchinternet.com/msudenver/ .