DENVER, Colo. –  After taking down one team from South Dakota on Friday night, the Regis University men's basketball team (9-6, 4-5 RMAC) lost a thriller to the Black Hills State University Yellow Jackets (10-5, 7-2 RMAC), 51-49, on Saturday evening.
 
How It Happened: After Black Hills State scored the first two points of the game, Regis went on a 14-4 run to take an eight-point lead early on, 14-6. The held the lead for 13:19 in the first half and went into the halftime break with a 27-24 lead. Neither team shot particularly well in the opening half with the Rangers owning a slight 36.7-32.1 advantage from the floor.
 
The second half was a different story for both teams as the shooting percentage went down for RU and went up for the visiting Yellow Jackets. The game ended up pretty low scoring between the two teams who combined for only 100 total points. The lead grew to as many as 10 points for Regis, 40-30 with 11:18 remaining in the game. However, BHSU was never going to let the Rangers run them out of the gym. RU was pushed to the limit down the final stretch of the game and with less than three minutes to go, it was anyone's game to win.
 
With the score tied at 45, the Yellow Jackets took their first lead of the second half 48-45 on a big three-point basket from Joel Scott. Junior Brian Dawson countered with a two-pointer on the other end and senior Christian Little followed with another a few second later, putting Regis back on top, 49-48 with only 45 seconds on the clock. Following a timeout from the visitors, BHSU's Trey Whitley flashed to the hoop and his layup gave the Yellow Jackets a 50-49 lead with just 28 seconds remaining. The Rangers had two shots at the end to take the lead, but both shots came up short. Still, following only one made free throw from BHSU with 12 seconds left, RU raced down the floor for one last opportunity, only for it to come up just short again, and as the clock expired the win went to the Yellow Jackets 51-49.  
 
Game Notes: Only one player reached double-figures on the night for Regis and that was Little who tallied 17 points. He made 7-of-19 shots from the field including 1-of-2 shots from beyond the arc. Dawson (3-10 FG) had nine points, freshman Will Cranston-Lown (4-6 FG) had eight and sophomore Toni Rocak (3-10 FG) had seven for the Rangers. It was an offensive performance that resembled a very defensive game from both sides. Final shooting percentages for the game tilted in favor of BHSU 35.1-33.3 with each team claiming 40 rebounds on the night. The game could have gone either way, the chips just fell the way of the visitors on this night.
 
Up Next for the Rangers: The Regis University men's basketball team will head out on the road for the next four games. The first two games will be played at Westminster College in Salt Lake City, Utah on Friday, January 17, followed by a matchup with conference leading Dixie State University in St. George, Utah the next night.