THIS WEEK: Minot State end the Dakota Athletic Conference regular season at home as MSU plays host to Black Hills State and South Dakota Mines Friday (7:30 p.m.) and Saturday (6 p.m.)
RECORDS: The Beavers are 11-15 overall and 5-7 in Dakota Athletic Conference play, sitting in a tie for fifth. Black Hills State leads the conference with a 10-2 record and a stellar 21-5 overall mark. Mines is just one game behind its rival with a 9-3 record and comes into the weekend with a 17-9 overall record.
COACHES CORNER: Minot State's head coach is Peter Stewart, who is in his first season with MSU. Stewart's record is 11 wins and 15 losses overall and with the Beavers. Bradd Schafer is in his first season at the helm of the Yellow Jackets and boasts a 21-5 record. Minot State alum Jason Henry is in his sixth season with Mines and is 67-83 at the school and overall.
THINK GREEN: This weekend's games have been designated a “Green Out” at the Dome. The designation is in conjunction with the MSU Athletic Department and Xcel Energy's Green Weekend that has been going on throughout the week on campus. Fans are both encouraged to wear green at the games Friday and Saturday night, but also to think “green” and recycle. There will be recycling canisters at the Dome to recycle plastics and the MSU gameday programs. The MSU residence halls have been in competition all week and prizes will be awarded during the games.
ON THE AIR: The games are broadcast locally on KCJB 910-AM with Scott Kittell calling the play-by-play. Live online broadcast of the weekend games is available via the American One broadcast network and live stats are provided by Minot State's Sports Information. Both can be accessed by logging on to (www.msubeavers.com) and clicking on the multimedia tab at the top of the page.
RANKINGS: Black Hills State comes in at No. 5 in the country, the second time the Yellow Jackets have been ranked in the top five this season. South Dakota Mines is ranked No. 25 this week, the first time the Hardrockers have been in the poll this season. MSU is not ranked.
RECENT HISTORY: Minot State lost its only game last week, falling 86-65 to Dickinson State Wednesday. The Yellow Jackets earned a pair of wins last week in DAC play, defeating Dakota State 78-64 on Friday and Mayville State 58-49 Saturday. Mines also won two games, taking out Mayville 85-70 and Dakota 81-65 to run its undefeated streak to seven games.
OVERALL SERIES: Minot State and Black Hills State are deadlocked at 18-18 in the overall series since the DAC formed, but MSU has lost six straight to BHSU. MSU has a slight 14-10 edge against Mines dating back to 2000.
NOTING THE YELLOWJACKETS: Black Hills State's five seniors Cain Atkinson, Clay Pottorff, Spencer Childress, Luke Enos and Will John Johnson have missed nine total games between the five in four seasons. The five have amassed 6,346 points and 2,685 rebounds during that time… Atkinson could surpass the 2,000-point barrier in his career as he had 1,921 points, playing all 122 games for the Yellow Jackets in four seasons… Johnson also has played in 122 games and has one of the most impressive career stat sheets in DAC history, scoring 1,146 points, pulling down 1,142 rebounds and shooting 55.4 percent from the floor in his career… Hills has two six game winning streaks on the season – interrupted by two losses including one to MSU 63-60 Jan. 22 – and is currently working on a four-game winning streak.
NOTING THE HARDROCKERS: South Dakota Mines started the season with three straight losses and stood at 8-8 after a loss to Jamestown College Jan. 7. Since then, the Hardrockers are 9-1, winning four of five road games in the process… During the Hardrockers seven-game winning streak, they have not allowed an opponent more than 74 points, while they have reached 75 or more six times… Leading scorer Kyle Doerr is averaging 11.5 points per game, but has reached 20 or more just three times. During the season, he has scored in double figures 18 times.
GTB (GRAND THEFT BASKETBALL): Minot State's Jason West (Sr., G, Lompoc, Calif.) needs just one steal over his final three games to move into second place all time for single season steals. He is currently tied with Mister Carney with 77. Carney, however, has the school record for steals with 88, set last year. West and Carney now have four of the top five single season totals in steals.
FRASER STAYS IN TOP 5: Minot State junior Kelvin Fraser (F, Brooklyn, N.Y.) has stayed in the top 5 in blocked shots all season in the NAIA Division II rankings. He is currently fourth in the country in blocks per game at 2.65 and is fifth overall with 65 blocks. The 65 blocks is a single season record for the Beavers and puts Fraser just 11 blocks shy of the Beavers career record held by Shaun Johnson set in the 2009-10 season.
DÉJÀ VU: The last time Minot State entertained two ranked DAC foes was in 2008-09 as South Dakota Mines and Black Hills State came to the Dome, both in the NAIA top 25. Minot State smothered the Hardrockers with solid defense in a 69-59 win over the Hardrockers, ranked No. 21 in the country. The next night, BHSU's Travis Haney banked in a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Yellow Jackets a 93-91 win. Hills was ranked No. 9 at the time.
– GO BEAVERS –
