Spearfish, S.D. – In the first ever RMAC contest for the Black Hills State men's basketball team, it took two overtimes for Western State to edge out the Yellow Jackets 89-93 on Friday night.

The Yellow Jackets had four players in double-digit points. Austin Maag had a career night with a game-high 30 points on 12-of-19 from the floor.

"He really got a rhythm going and he is that type of player. I think he is going to be a very good player in this conference," said head coach Bradd Schafer.  

Brady Bisgaard added 19 points, Tanner Adler recorded 17 and Cameron Anderson had a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds.    

"I am so proud of our guys," said Schafer. "We were down by seven in the first overtime and we didn't quit. We came back and that is what we are about and that's what we have been working towards. Yeah, it is disappointing to get a loss, but it's not about wins and losses, it is about getting better and we got better tonight."

The Yellow Jackets traded baskets with Western State for the first half of play trailing 14-16 at 10:38. The Mountaineers went on 11-2 run to lead 21-31 with 4:08 remaining in the first half. The Yellow Jackets were able to bring themselves within 10 points, 30-40, heading into half.

The Yellow Jackets were led by Maag who had nine points and BHSU shot 35.5 percent (11-of-31) from the field. Cameron Anderson led the rebounding efforts with four rebounds.

The Mountaineers showed their range with deep 3-pointers, shooting 5-of-10 from behind the arc. The Mountaineers shot 50 percent in the first half.         

In the second half, Maag and Adler led the Yellow Jacket comeback as BHSU went on a 26-13 run, and led 56-52 at 10:48. In the next six minutes, the lead changed five times as both teams battled. With 34 seconds left in regulation, the Mountaineers brought the ball up the court with a 77-75 lead. Joey Mitchell intercepted a Western pass and drove to the middle of the key for a difficult bank of the glass to tie the game 77-77 with 21 seconds. The Yellow Jackets forced a turnover on the next Western possession, but was not able to get a shot off before the end of regulation.

In the first overtime, Western took a quick 85-77 lead, but the Yellow Jackets wouldn't go away. Bisgaard hit an off-balanced 3-pointer and two free throws to tie the game at 85-85. Western's Jake Brady missed on a last second 3-pointer and the game was sent into its second overtime. Both Maag and Adler fouled out during the first overtime period.  

In the second overtime, the Yellow Jackets trailed 89-90 with 53 seconds remaining. Mitchell missed a 3-pointer off the front of the iron with seven seconds left on the clock and the hard-fought game ended 93-89.

"I thought the second half we really battled and did some great things defensively. We got stops when we needed to get stops and that's why we got back into that game and gave ourselves an opportunity," said Schafer.

The Yellow Jackets shot 41.3 percent (31-of-64) and 60.9 percent (14-of-23) from the charity stripe. The Yellow Jackets' defense forced 29 Mountaineer turnovers.

Joseph Charles and Terrence Boyd led the Mountaineers with 21 and 18 points respectively.

The Yellow Jackets will turn around and play Colorado Mesa tomorrow at 7:30 p.m.

"For us, these are the types of teams we have to beat for us to finish in the top-8," said Schafer. "That is the ultimate goal to get to that RMAC Tournament. We got another good one tomorrow with Mesa. You have no rest, you have got to be ready to gear it up and go again and that's what I told our guys."