South Dakota Mines SDSMT 7-16,6-11 RMAC

Regis (CO) Regis 10-13,7-10 RMAC

South Dakota Mines SDSMT

7-16,6-11 RMAC

Final

Feb. 10, 2023

Regis (CO) Regis

10-13,7-10 RMAC

Score By Periods
Team	1	2	F
South Dakota Mines SDSMT	41	45	86
Regis (CO) Regis	28	48	76

Summary
Box Score

Billy Saunders, Regis Athletics

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | Feb 10 | David Wilson, Assistant AD-Communications

Second-half rally falls just shy for Rangers in 86-76 loss to South Dakota Mines

DENVER, Colo. — The Regis University men's basketball team made a furious second-half rally, but had its comeback attempt fall just shy in an 86-76 home loss to South Dakota Mines on Friday inside the Regis Fieldhouse.

With the loss, the Rangers (10-13 overall, 7-10 RMAC) had their four-game home winning streak come to an end while the visiting Hardrockers (7-16 overall, 6-11 RMAC) earned their first road win against Regis since joining the RMAC in 2015-16.

"We didn't play with a sense of urgency until deep into the second half. Once we did that, we were pretty good and that's kind of been the story of our season," said Regis head men's basketball coach, Brady Bergeson. "When we play at that level that we expect, we're a pretty good team. And when we don't, we struggle and we saw both ends of the spectrum (Friday)."

HOW IT HAPPENED: South Dakota Mines came out firing to start the first half, jumping out to a 20-7 lead at the 13:48 mark following back-to-back-to-back made 3-pointers that captured the early momentum.

The Hardrockers would maintain that 13-point lead at the half, 41-28, and led by as many as 22 points with 11:50 remaining before the Rangers were able to find their footing.

Regis, playing without its leading scorer in graduate student guard David Simental, countered back with a 19-6 blitz over the next five minutes to whittle the lead down to single digits again at 69-60 on a made 3-pointer by senior forward Aaron Bokol with 6:58 remaining.

"The run was sparked by our defensive energy. When we cut hard, defend hard, fly around and play with detail we can be pretty good," Bergeson said. "We just didn't do enough of that (Friday)."

The Rangers would get back all the way within five at 75-70 at the 4:16 mark of the second half, courtesy of a deep 3-pointer by graduate student forward Jas Singh, but were unable to inch any closer as South Dakota Mines answered with a 6-0 burst and held on for the 86-76 final.

South Dakota Mines was led by junior guard Alejandro Rama, who followed up his 34-point performance against No. 13 ranked Colorado School of Mines with a game-high 29 points on Friday.

Hardrockers' guard Walter Brevin, the RMAC's fourth leading scorer at 20.9 points per game entering the weekend, added 24 points he had to work hard for as the Regis defense limited him to 8-for-21 shooting.

"Those two guys certainly make them go, offensively. Combined with Mortenson, who we did a really good job on tonight (1-for-5 shooting). But we had a hard time with Rama in the first half, but then Brevin got going in the second," Bergeson said. "It was a little bit of stopping the leak in the dam over here, but then another leak sprouts up over there."

Offensively, the Rangers had four players in double-figures on Friday, led by junior guards Eddy Egun and CJ Reed with 14 points apiece. Bokol added 13 points and six rebounds, while sophomore forward Brayden Carter added 10 points and a team-high eight boards.

GAME NOTES:

Regis finished with a 32-14 advantage in bench points.
The Rangers shot 51 percent (18-for-35) in the second half and 42 percent (28-for-66) for the game.
South Dakota Mines, the top free throw shooting team in the RMAC, was 16-for-17 at the foul stripe on Friday. Regis finished 8-for-9.
Carter led all Rangers with four assists, while freshman Vojin Mastilovic tallied three.
Freshman guard Joshua Pearre was a team-best +7 in the plus/minus category, scoring three points in his seven minutes.
Singh had nine points for Regis on 3-for-7 shooting behind the arc.

UP NEXT: The Rangers conclude the two-game home stand with a Saturday showdown against the current RMAC leaders and No. 3 ranked Black Hills State University (21-1 overall, 15-1 RMAC) at 5 p.m. inside the Regis Fieldhouse.

Saturday's game will be a rematch of the 2022 RMAC Championship title game, a close 69-66 win by the Yellow Jacketson March 5, 2022. Regis played BHSU tough again earlier this winter, falling by a 75-65 final out in Spearfish on Dec. 2, 2022.

Print Friendly Version