SPEARFISH, S.D. - The Black Hills State University men's basketball team moved to 1-0 on the season in their opening game of the 2013-14 season from the Young Center as they took down the Montana State Billings Yellowjackets on Saturday night by 20 points, 97-77. 

After a back-and-forth first half that saw MSUB take a 21-12 lead almost eight minutes into the game, the Jackets pulled back to take a 43-42 lead at the break.   

The momentum gained from closing the first half out with the one-point lead by halftime was carried over as the Jackets came out firing on all cylinders in the second half as by game's end, six different players finished the game in double-figures in scoring as nine of the Yellow Jackets played at least 10 minutes on the night. 

BHSU was led by senior guard, Tommy Earl, who had a team-high 17 points as he went 4-of-8 from the field and was 8-of-8 from the free throw line.  Earl also had four rebounds on the night (2 offense, 2 defense).  True sophomore, Riley Ryan, had an impressive performance off the bench as he managed to score 15 points and was aggressive with his offensive attack as he made it to the free throw line a game-high 11 times, hitting eight of them.   

The three newcomer transfers were sure to make their mark in their first home contests with the program as junior guard, Myles Henry, came off the bench to provide a strong 24 minutes as he went 6-of-9 from the filed to finish with 14 points.  Before big man junior, Yoshio Allen, fouled out in the closing minutes when the game was already decided, Allen had an impressive 13 points and and six rebounds (5 offense) in just 12 minutes on the court which included an three-point play with 10:42 left to extend his team's lead to 72-59. 

Senior transfer from Washington State, Julian Holliday, proved to bring a spark off the bench as he went 4-of-7 from the field and made all three of his foul shots to give him 11 points to help secure the win with his veteran presence that proved to be beneficial in crucial moments throughout the second half as the Jackets extended their lead. 

Yellow Jacket junior, Joey Mitchell, finished with 10 points and had timely shots all night long when his team needed it to spark them on multiple runs, especially after he hit a long three points shot to push the lead to 91-68 with 4:10 to play - putting the game out of reach. 

Starters and junior leaders that will look to be the backbone of the 2013-14 squad are juniors, Brady Bisgaard and Cameron Anderson, both of whom provided solid minutes yet again for their team.  Bisgaard played 21 minutes and had seven points with two rebounds and two assists as Anderson had a game-high seven rebounds and six points and two assists. 

High scorer on the night was MSUB's rangy guard, Jonathan Mesghan, who finished with 23 points on 7-of-11 shooting but was seemingly keep quiet in the second half as BHSU's Anderson locked down defensively in the second half.  Kalob Hatcher and Devon Wallace both helped MSUB tonight as they combined for 28 points, nine assists, and six rebounds. 

As a team the Jackets shot almost 52-percent on 30-58 shooting (37.5% 3PT) and went 31-of-41 from the free throw line (75.6%).  BHSU out rebounded MSUB 34 to 27, which proved to be a deciding factor to prevent second chance points by MSUB.  The Jackets turned over MSUB 10 times while they only had five turnovers themselves in the game on way to 97 points to open the new season over a MSUB team that beat BHSU by 39 points just a season ago. 

Next up for the Yellow Jackets will be archival and crosstown foe, South Dakota School of Mines, on Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2013 at 7:30 p.m from the Young Center. 

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