Rapid City, S.D.--- The South Dakota School of Mines men's basketball team will take to the road for their final regular-season game when the Hardrockers challenge Black Hills State Friday night in Spearfish, South Dakota, in a 7:30 p.m. tipoff.

With one game to play in the regular season, there is still one scenario where the Hardrockers could make the RMAC post-season tournament.

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Adams State will play at Fort Lewis in Durango on Friday night. Should the Grizzlies win on the road, they would need a CSC loss, also on the road, to nab the playoff bid. If both ASU and Chadron lose (who plays at MSU Denver), that puts Chadron State, Adams State MSU Denver and SD Mines in a four-way tie for the final playoff spot. Metro State is 11-14 overall and 9-12 in the RMAC to share 10th and 11th in the loop standings with South Dakota Mines. 

Looking at a head-to-head comparison, the Hardrockers would vault into eighth place with a win, along with a Chadron loss and Adams State loss, simply because the Hardrockers pulled off the conference's biggest upset last Saturday night, downing league leader Colorado Mines in Rapid City to snap the Orediggers' 22-game winning skein. Metro State is eliminated from postseason contention by virtue of tiebreakers.

Black Hills State is tied for fourth with UCCS, and have already clinched a spot in the RMAC Tournament. In order to host a first round game, the Yellow Jackets need to be in the Top 4 seeds and would need a Friday night win.  

The Yellow Jackets and Hardrockers met Dec. 1 in the first game of the RMAC schedule, with BHSU earning the 57-56 overtime victory. Dez Stoudamire hit a buzzer-beating three at the end of regulation to tie up the game, and Tyler Oliver made a game-winning buzzer-beating layup to earn the win.

Black Hills State is 3-2 in their last five games, with wins coming against New Mexico Highlands University (66-65), Chadron State (77-71) and most recently University of Colorado at Colorado Springs (79-76). Their two losses in the last five came against Metropolitan State University of Denver (72-51), and Colorado School of Mines (73-69).

Despite his season-ending injury, Fraser Malcolm is averaging 16.0 points per game to lead BHSU, which is also good for eighth in the league. He made 52.1 percent of his shots from the floor, ranking fourth in the RMAC. Stoudamire averages 12.6 ppg, which sits 23rd in the conference.

The Hardrockers are 12-17 overall, and 9-12 in conference play. Most recently, SDM handed nationally ranked Colorado School of Mines their first conference loss. South Dakota Mines won, 67-58, after falling, 74-73, to UCCS. The nine conference wins for the Hardrockers are the most since they joined the RMAC.

The team scores 69.2 points per game, led by Mitchell Sueker, who scores 14.7 ppg and and Logan Elers (11.9 ppg) also score in double figures, while Elers is also tied for the lead in rebounding, pulling down 6.3 boards per game. Damani Hayes (8.9 ppg) also tallies 6.3 rpg.