South Dakota Mines SDSMT 4-4,2-0 RMAC

Regis (CO) Regis 4-3,1-1 RMAC

South Dakota Mines SDSMT

4-4,2-0 RMAC

Final

Dec. 02, 2023

Regis (CO) Regis

4-3,1-1 RMAC

Score By Periods
Team	1	2	F
South Dakota Mines SDSMT	41	41	82
Regis (CO) Regis	33	31	64

Summary
Box Score

Billy Saunders, Regis Athletics

Freshman guard Ty Cox scored a career-high 23 points on Saturday.

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | Dec 02 | David Wilson, Assistant AD-Communications

Cox pours in career-high 23 points, but Rangers conclude home stand with loss to Hardrockers

DENVER, Colo. — The Regis University men's basketball team had its undefeated run at home come to an end on Saturday, falling by an 82-64 final to a surging South Dakota Mines squad inside the Regis Fieldhouse.

Regis (4-3 overall, 1-1 RMAC)) finishes 4-1 on its five-game home stand while the Hardrockers (4-4 overall, 2-0 RMAC) earn their third straight win with Saturday's final.

"Give a lot of credit to South Dakota Mines. They withstood our pressure and you could tell that had some seasoned, veteran guys who have been through some battles together. And they played like it tonight," said Regis head men's basketball coach, Brady Bergeson.

HOW IT HAPPENED
The Hardrockers offensive efficiency would be the story as South Dakota Mines shot a season-best 58 percent (29-for-50) from the floor and a staggering 71 percent (10-for-14) from behind the 3-point line on Saturday against a Regis defense that came into the contest second in the RMAC in fewest points allowed.

Regis would be able to force 17 turnovers and converted those into 10 fast-break points. But the Hardrockers' efficiency in the half court, and the inability to string stops together, would prove to be the difference.

South Dakota Mines led by as many as 13 late in the second half, with the Rangers making a late 9-4 burst to trim the deficit to 41-33 at the break and carry a little momentum into the locker rooms.

Unfortunately for the Rangers, the Hardrockers wouldn't budge as they stretched the lead back out to double-digits by the under-16 media timeout in the second half, and Regis was unable to inch any closer than 10 points the rest of the way as SDM held on for the 82-64 final.

"We had a few too many self-imposed mistakes on the offensive end, whether it was a turnover or bad shot selection, and then we weren't able to string enough stops and scores together to really make a run back at them," Bergeson said. "After we were able to make a run before halftime, you could feel momentum starting to tilt the other way in our direction, but then we were just unable to sustain those streaks of three, four or five good possessions in a row where you have to stack stops on top of each other."

A silver lining to Saturday's loss for the Rangers was the offensive outburst from true freshman Ty Cox, who poured in a career-high 23 points on 8-for-11 shooting, and 5-for-8 from behind the 3-point line, in just his seventh career game. Cox has now finished in double-figures in five of those seven games and is averaging an even 12 points per game on 52.5% shooting.

"Guys were looking for him, feeding off him and playing off him a lot of the night because he had the hot hand. It was really good to see him get going offensively like that because there are so many things Ty can do to help us win games," Bergeson said. "He was terrific tonight."

Redshirt junior guard Eddy Egun added nine points and four assists off the bench, and freshman forward Olafur Styrmisson chipped in eight points on 3-of-5 shooting to help pace the Regis offense.

Defensively, graduate student forward Tarig Eisa continued to shine in his rim protector role off the bench as he paced all Rangers with four blocks and six rebounds to go with three steals.

UP NEXT
The Rangers will conclude the fall semester portion of their schedule with a four-game road trip, beginning next weekend with trips to Westminster University (7 p.m. Friday) and Colorado Mesa University (7:30 p.m. Saturday).

"For us, we're looking week-to-week for progress and growth right now. And I think there's no question that we're seeing that with our group," Bergeson said. "We'll get back in here next week and try to put some good practices together so we can move the needle forward. We're looking forward to the challenge of getting back out on the road and being tested in someone else's gym."

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