LAKEWOOD, Colo. – Despite a career and season-high 19-points by Dez Stoudamire, the Black Hills State University men's basketball team dropped its third straight contest, 85-80, to Colorado Christian on Saturday night.
The Yellow Jackets fall to 4-4 on the season and 1-3 in conference play, while the Cougars improve to 2-8 on the season and 1-3 in conference.
In the first half, BHSU jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead with
Connor O'Hearn knocking a three down within the first 30 seconds of the game. However, the Cougars answered back with a jumper to trail, 3-2. From there, the Green and Gold continued to increase their lead, as they led by six at 12-6 by the first media timeout.
Colorado Christian grabbed the lead from the Yellow Jackets with 12:33 remaining in the first, leading 18-14. However, Black Hills State tied the game at 18-all a minute later. From there, the two teams traded off the lead until 20-all.
Fraser Malcolm hit a shot from the top of the key to give the lead back to BHSU.
Malcolm's shot started an 11-0 run for the Green and Gold, as they grabbed an 11-point lead at 31-20 with 4:34 remaining in the half. The Cougars tried cutting in on the lead, but the Yellow Jackets held on to close out the half, 40-34.
After halftime,
Stefan Desnica hit a jumper to give the Yellow Jackets an eight-point lead, 42-34. However, the Cougars cut in on the lead, and tied it up at 48-all with 13:49 left in the game.
From there, the two teams kept trading off points and the lead until 12:39 remaining in the game. The Cougars grabbed the lead by one at 55-54, and managed to hold onto it until 64-all.
The Yellow Jackets come within one point, with
Antonio Capley and O'Hearn knocking in five points to bring it to 62-61. Tyler Murrell of the Cougars hit a layup to go back up to 64-61 until Makaleb McInnis knocked one in from downtown to tie the game.
However, the Cougars grabbed the lead back and increased it to 12 at 80-68 with a minute remaining in the game. The Yellow Jackets tried to rally back but fell short, 85-80.
Stoudamire led the way, scoring a season- and career-high 19 points, while Malcolm scored 15 points, and O'Hearn had a season-high 12 points. The Green and Gold shot 44.6 percent from the field and 88.2 percent from the line.
Desnica grabbed a career- and team-high 11 rebounds. The Yellow Jackets grabbed 32 total rebounds.
Black Hills State returns home to complete a three-game home stand to end the calendar year, starting with Regis University and Chadron State on Friday, December 15 and Saturday, December 16. Tipoff is slated for 7:30 p.m. on Friday and 6 p.m. on Saturday.
