Men’s basketball falls short in first round of RMAC tournament

The second seed Yellow Jackets hosted the seventh seed Hard Rockers from South Dakota School of Mines and Technology Tuesday night, losing 80-71.

After scoring the first basket of the game, Black Hills State University never held the lead the rest of the game. With four minutes left in the first half, the Yellow Jackets were down 32-18 and crawled their way back to a five-point deficit before halftime.

Always down but never out, the Yellow Jackets continued to try and close the gap in the second half, getting within three points of tying before eventually losing by nine points.

The Yellow Jackets were led by junior guard Trey Whitley, who played 30 minutes and recorded 22 points shooting 8-15 from the field and 2-4 from the three-point line. Freshman forward Joel Scott played nearly the entire game, recording 37 minutes and scoring 17 points shooting 8-17 from the field.