by 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.
