RAPID CITY, S.D .--- The South Dakota School of Mines  Men's Basketball team returns home this weekend after two weeks of being on the road for the final two Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference home matchups on the 2018-19 schedule.

The Hardrockers will play host to the University of Colorado Colorado Springs on Friday and will then welcome the RMAC's top squad the Colorado School of Mines Orediggers on Saturday.

UCCS comes in with a 16-9 overall record and a 13-6 conference mark. The Mountain Lions are tied with Dixie State University and BHSU for third place in the conference standings. After two home wins this past weekend, the Mountain Lions have clinched a spot in the RMAC post-season tournament.
 
UCCS enters the weekend on a four-game winning streak and have outscored their opponents by nearly nine points. In their last three games, the Mountain Lions have surpassed the 90-point mark.
 
The Mountain Lions have the third highest scoring average in the league, netting 83.4 points per game.  From the floor, they are shooting 45.9 percent and 73.9 percent from the free throw line.  UCCS has handed out a league high 16.2 dimes per game, while registering a 1.2 assist-to-turnover ratio, marking the second best ratio among the 16 teams.  Defensively, UCCS is sixth in the RMAC in blocks, stopping 3.2 shots per game while stealing the ball 7.0 times per game.
 
Padiet Wang, Dalton Walker and Blend Avdili are each averaging more than 12.0 points per game.  Wang is netting 12.9 points, followed by 12.1 points per game by Walker and Avdili. Wang, who is the only Mountain Lion to have started all 25 games for UCCS, leads the team in steals (48) and rebounds (5.8). 
 
In the Mountain Lions four-game winning streak, Walker scored a team high 80 points and hit 15 three-pointers and 25-of-28 free throws.  This season, he is shooting a team-best 82.4 percent from the charity stripe, hitting 75-of-91 attempts. Freshman DaRaun Clark has recorded 22 starts in 25 games and is averaging 11.0 points and 3.3 rebounds per game.  He has added 33 assists, 25 steals and has nailed 40 three-pointers.

In their last five games UCCS has four wins and one loss, those wins came against Metropolitan State University Denver (71-70), Chadron State (97-87), Colorado State University Pueblo (97-84) and most recently New Mexico Highlands (94-83).
On Saturday the Hardrockers play host to Colorado School of Mines in the last home game of the season. Game time is set for 5:30pm.

Colorado School of Mines won the outright RMAC regular-season championship last weekend with wins over New Mexico Highlands and CSU-Pueblo, remaining perfect in league play at 19-0. The Orediggers won their fifth title under head coach Pryor Orser and will be the RMAC Tournament's No. 1 seed.
 
Heading into this weekend, Colorado School of Mines leads the RMAC in all three shooting categories – overall (.516), three-point (.419), and free throw (.773). The Orediggers have shot .500 or better in six of their last seven games, including .654 on Saturday against CSU-Pueblo; Colorado School of Mines is also coming off a weekend from deep, hitting 22-of-38 (.579) from beyond the arc vs. New Mexico Highlands and CSU-Pueblo. The 'Diggers ranks fifth in the nation in field-goal percentage and fourth in three-point shooting
 
The Orediggers have won their last five games, including: New Mexico Highlands (81-78), Chadron State (90-56), Metropolitan State University Denver (66-60), New Mexico Highlands (100-73), and most recently Colorado State University Pueblo (93-56). The Orediggers' last loss was back on Nov. 18 against Nebraska Kearny (67-60).

Mason Baker leads the way for the Orediggers, this season Baker is averaging 15 points per game, he is also the team leader with 30 steals. Ben Sonnefeld isn't too far behind, he is averaging 14.2 points per game, and he leads the team in assists with 111.

The Hardrockers enter the weekend with an 11-16 overall record and are tied for 10^th place in the conference standings at 8-11.  SD Mines is 1-3 in their last four games but are 8-4 this season when playing at Goodell Gymnasium. SD Mines holds the RMAC's No. 3 defense at 70.6 points allowed per game.

The 'Rockers are paced by Mitchell Sueker's 14.3 points per game.  He is supported by Logan Elers' 11.7 scoring average.  Elers is shooting the ball at a solid 54.8 percent from the floor and 77.1 percent from the free throw line.