The No. 17 Black Hills State University men’s basketball team won their ninth game in the last ten outings on Saturday afternoon as they concluded action on the road for the regular season with an 85-77 victory at New Mexico Highlands. The Yellow Jackets clinched a home RMAC Tournament game for Tuesday, March 3, as they battled the Cowboys in a match-up that featured 23 lead changes and six ties, but would ultimately win the contest with yet another strong shooting performance at the charity stripe (24-of-26, 92.3%) on the road. The Green & Gold will enter the final week of the regular season holding down a one game lead atop the conference standings.
QUICK DETAILS
Score: No. 17 Black Hills State 85, New Mexico Highlands 77
Team Records: No. 17 Black Hills State 22-4 (15-3 RMAC), New Mexico Highlands 12-17 (10-8 RMAC)
Attendance: 311
HOW IT HAPPENED
- New Mexico Highlands scored the first three points of the game, holding the 3-0 advantage after a 1-of-2 trip to the free throw line and a driving right-handed layup by Marcus Pierce nearly a minute and a half into the contest. The first Black Hills State basket in the game didn’t come until 17:42 showed on the clock as Jaeton Hackley sank a left-corner 3-pointer off a transition kick-out pass from Jack Haggett to even the game at three apiece. The 3-pointer from Hackley would spark a 14-4 scoring run for the Yellow Jackets over a nearly four minute stretch that saw the team take a 14-7 advantage on a right-handed layup by Joel Speckman off a pass from Hackley on a pick-and-roll with 12:53 left in the opening half.
- The seven point lead for BHSU would be the largest of the first half as NMHU would quickly respond with a 10-2 run of their own to take the lead back at 17-16 on a left-wing 3-pointer from Ibrahima Sacko off an assist from Pierce with 10:21 left in the first half. The lead change would mark the first of 16 between the two teams in the final ten and a half minutes of the opening half. As the teams traded the lead back-and-forth, it was Hackley who gave the Yellow Jackets the one point edge entering the locker rooms as he hit a fadeaway mid-range jumper from the left side of the court at the buzzer to make it 39-38.
- New Mexico Highlands took the lead back once again on the opening possession of the second half with a jumper from Nikk Williams from the left-block off an assist from BJ Comer just 18 seconds out of the break to make it 40-39. The basket marked the beginning of a 9-2 scoring run to start the second half by the Cowboys as a pair of free throws from Pierce gave them a 47-41 lead, their largest of the game, with 16:29 remaining in the contest. The Yellow Jackets answered with seven unanswered points to regain the lead in a continuously back-and-forth game, with four points from Myles Johnson and a left-wing triple from Tristan Hurdle off an assist from Hackley that made it 48-47 with 15:08 to play in the game.
- Following the trey from Hurdle, the teams traded the lead back-and-forth four more times before the Green & Gold secured the lead for good. Back-to-back-to-back 3-pointers by Haggett, Woodruff, and Hackley sparked a 16-2 scoring run for the Yellow Jackets as the lead grew to double digits on a driving right-handed layup by Haggett off a pass from Hackley, making it 66-56 with 9:42 to play as BHSU took their largest lead of the afternoon.
- The Cowboys would be able to cut the lead down to five points on two occasions, but no closer as the Yellow Jackets closed things out with 10-of-11 shooting from the free throw line the final nine and a half minutes as they concluded another strong shooting performance from the charity stripe on the road. Sealing the victory was a pair of free throws from Hackley to bring the final score to 85-77 with just over a minute remaining.
BLACK HILLS STATE STATISTICAL LEADERS
Jaeton Hackley: 26 points, 8-of-15 field goals, 2-of-5 3-pointers, 8-of-8 free throws, 3 rebounds, 6 assists
BJ Woodruff: 14 points, 5-of-10 field goals, 4-of-6 3-pointers, 4 rebounds
Cam Lowe: 11 points, 2-of-6 field goals, 1-of-5 3-pointers, 6-of-7 free throws, 10 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals, 1 block
UP NEXT
No. 17 Black Hills State will return home for the final weekend of the regular season, beginning with a 7 p.m. tip-off against Westminster on Thursday, February 26. The game will be available streaming live on the RMAC Network and on KDSJ Radio. Additionally, the game will air on linear tv on KNBN-2 (Rapid City) and KSFL (Sioux Falls).
