RAPID CITY, S.D. – The South Dakota Mines men's basketball team was searching for a victory over Colorado Christian University to clinch a spot in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Postseason Tournament Saturday night in the regular season finale and Senior Night at the King Center.
On senior night, the Hardrockers honored
Alejandro Rama,
Brannagh Walsh,
Jaka Prevodnik,
Kyle Harris,
Kolton Frugoli and
Bryce Sherrell were honored and were looking to have a chance to play one more game, however, the Hardrockers ran into a hot outside shooting CCU team and fell to the Cougars 69-56.
Going into Saturday's play, South Dakota Mines, Chadron State College and CSU Pueblo were all at 9-12. The 'Rockers needed either a win or a loss from CSU Pueblo to advance to the RMAC playoffs. Unfortunately for the Hardrockers, CSU Pueblo won to go a game up despite the pair of Hardrocker wins, leaving the eighth and final spot to the Hardrockers and Chadron State where the Eagles had the tie breaker over the Hardrockers due to a pair of head to head wins, knocking SDM out of the playoffs, ending their season.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Hardrockers could not have gotten off to a slower start and never led in the game. CCU, meanwhile, was red-hot early and often racing out to a 12-1 lead through the first seven minutes. South Dakota Mines did not get its first field goal until senior
Brannagh Walsh hit a 3-pointer with 11:48 to play in the first half.
The Cougars responded with 10 straight points before junior
Cameron Cohn scored. CCU built a 26-10 lead with just over seven minutes until halftime before the 'Rockers cut the lead back under 10 at 26-19 on two free throws by senior
Alejandro Rama and baskets by Walsh and senior
Keagen Smith.
The Cougars regained the momentum and closed on a 14-5 run. Rama ended the first half with a 3-pointer to make the score 40-24. The Hardrockers shot just 27 percent from the field (7-of-26), hitting 3-of-8 3-pointers and 8-of-13 free throws. CCU shot 44 percent overall (12-of-27) but nailed 7-of-13 3-pointers and were 9-of-11 from the free-throw line.
Colorado Christian picked up where it left off early in the second half with two straight 3-pointers to one South Dakota Mines free throw. The Cougars maintained an 18 to 22-point lead before the 'Rockers cut the lead to 15 on layups by Walsh and sophomore
Guillem Garcia. CCU regained a 20-point edge with just under 10 minutes to play.
The Cougars led 61-39 before Rama score five straight points but South Dakota Mines could never really make much of a dent in the CCU lead until late. The Hardrockers cut the lead to 10 with 1:37 to play on five points from Rama and baskets by seniors
Bryce Sherrell and
Kolton Frugoli and Walsh.
Colorado Christian ended the run by hitting 5-of-6 free throws as junior
Jaka Prevodnik hit a layup with a second remaining for the final 69-56 score.
NOTES
Rama closed his outstanding career with a team-high 21 points on 6-of-13 from the field, including 3-of-7 3-pointers, 6-of-7 free throws, seven rebounds, two assists, two steals and one blocked shot. He finished with 1,530 points in his career. Walsh and
Cameron Cohn both scored nine points, with Walsh grabbing a team-high eight rebounds.
Kolton Frugoli added five points, three rebounds and two steals. As a team, South Dakota Mines shot 35 percent from the field (19-of-54), hitting 5-of-20 3-pointers and just 13-of-25 free throws. The Cougars only shot 40 percent from the field but hit 11-of-22 3-pointers and 20-of-26 free throws, also outrebounding the 'Rockers 41-28.
Fans can find the latest on South Dakota Mines men's basketball all year long on X and Instagram (@hardrockermbb), while also following on Facebook at South Dakota Mines Men's Basketball. The latest on South Dakota Mines athletics can be found by following us on X at @GoHardrockers, hardrockerathletics on Instagram and Hardrocker Athletics on Facebook.
About South Dakota Mines
The South Dakota School of Mines & Technology is a member of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) and NCAA Division II offering 13 men's and women's varsity intercollegiate athletic programs. The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference is a premier NCAA Division II conference with 15 members, as well as four associate members, located in the states of California, Colorado, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Utah.
