GUNNISON – Western State Colorado University men's basketball team will head north for South Dakota this weekend to take on South Dakota School of Mines at 7:30 p.m. Friday, then head to Black Hills State University Saturday at 6 p.m.
 
The game Saturday will mark the second time Western coach Bradd Schafer returns to Black Hills where he coached for eight years before Western. In the previous meeting Western fell 57 to 64. In the three installments in the matchup, Western is winless with all three games decided by 10 points or fewer.
 
This weekend will matchup one of the highest scoring offenses in the conference against two of the best scoring defenses. Western ranks fifth in the RMAC in scoring with 80 points per game, while Black Hills is third in scoring defense and S.D. Mines is fifth. It will also feature the seventh-best scorer in Ben Beauchamp against the eighth-best scorer and second-best rebounder in S.D. Mines' Konor Kulas.
 
The month of January has seen the emergence of Mountaineer sharpshooter Brady Subart. The sophomore this month has scored a team-high 112 points in six game, averaging more than 18 points per game. The majority of Subart's damage has come from beyond the arc, knocking down 24 treys in the span of games and shooting 57 percent from deep in January. He is also a perfect 10-for-10 from the charity stripe. Subart has become the conference's best deep shooter in conference play this season, shooting .500 from the arc against the RMAC.
 
Joining Subart is Beauchamp. Beauchamp is a two-time RMAC Player of the Week and is sixth in overall 3-pointer percentage. Beauchamp's 17.6 points per game in January makes the duo of Subart and Beauchamp a deadly deep shot threat. The two combined for 37 total treys in the month, shooting more than half of the team's 3-pointers.
 
The Mountaineers will finish out a three-game road trip against Colorado Mesa University Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.