RAPID CITY - The St. Thomas More Cavaliers boys basketball team is going to get quite a test over the next few days as it plays games in three different towns on three consecutive nights.

The Cavaliers played a Black Hills Conference game against Hot Springs last night - a 56-32 win over the Bison - and will travel to Custer for another BHC tilt against the Wildcats tonight at 7:30 p.m.

More will then turn around and travel across the state to Sioux Falls on Saturday to play the Bellevue East (Neb.) Chieftains in the Dakota Schoolers Border Classic at the Elmen Center on Augustana College's campus. That game is scheduled to tip off for 7:20 p.m. CST.

The Chieftains are a Class A team in Nebraska with an enrollment of nearly 2,000 students. Bellevue will bring a 6-foot-7 senior forward to the game in Jerrell Crayton who is being recruited by many Division I schools.

More head coach Dave Hollenbeck sees the three-day run through a tough gauntlet of games as vitally important to his team's preparedness for postseason play, which begins March 2.

"Playing two disciplined, well-coached teams like Hot Springs and Custer before travelling across the state to play one of the bigger schools in Nebraska in three days is a great test," Hollenbeck said. "It's going to be hard, there's no doubt about that, but it's one of those things that helps get a team prepared for the focus you need to bring to district play."

The No. 3-ranked Class A Cavaliers are currently 14-1, with their only loss to, coincidentally, a Nebraska team. The Cavaliers lost to Class B No. 2-ranked Beatrice 49-39 at a tournament in Grand Island, Neb., earlier this season.

"Beatrice was a very physical team," Hollenbeck said. "They were well prepared on the defensive end and took us out of some of the things we like to do offensively. We know that playing a school like Bellevue isn't going to be any easier. They're a big, physical team that's almost undoubtedly going to be stronger and more athletic than any team we've seen so far this year."

The Cavaliers will stick to what has been working for them all season and use a well-rounded offensive attack with the ability to stretch a defense with the 3-point shot.

Senior Brendan Duffy leads the Cavaliers in scoring at about 17 points per game with sophomore forward Brandon Bassett right behind at around 15 per contest. The Cavaliers play an eight- or nine-man rotation most nights - and at least seven of those players are capable of stepping out behind the arc and keeping the defense honest with the ability to hit the long ball. They'll need it this weekend, particularly Saturday when they'll very likely find themselves overmatched physically.

"As always, we're going to have to defend and play smart basketball," Hollenbeck said. "But if we're going to have any chance of hanging around with Bellevue we're going to have to make shots. This team, from top to bottom, might be the best outside shooting team I've coached since I've been here and we're going to need every bit of it to get through this weekend."