LUBBOCK, Texas – Black Hills State men's basketball knocked off No. 2 West Texas A&M 91-77 Sunday night to advance to the Sweet 16 in the 2022 NCAA DII Tournament.

The Yellow Jackets (24-7, 21-4 RMAC) had three scorers with 20-point performances in Joel Scott, Sindou Cisse and Sava Dukic as the team shot a collective 61.0 percent from the field while making 50 points in the paint.

"It's just one game, and that's how we've thought all year," said Head Coach Ryan Thompson. "We feel like we can go up with anyone, and Texas A&M is one of the better teams in the country. We got great looks all night long and guys stepped up."

Scott recorded his 19th double-double of the season, scoring 20 points and grabbing 14 rebounds.

Cisse went 9-of-11 from the field and had seven rebounds to go with his 20 points.

Dukic also had 20 points, making 7-of-9 on the floor and 5-of-8 from the free throw line.

Adam Moussa dished out a team-best four assists while scoring 13 points and hauling in seven rebounds.

Ryker Cisarik came down with a career-best eight boards while scoring seven, and Tommy Donovan finished with eight points.

The Yellow Jackets got out to a quick 7-2 lead with a Moussa three and layups from Scott and Cisse, but WT came back to even things up at 7-7 before back-and-forth play commenced.

Three straight makes from Dukic, Donovan and Scott extended the BHSU lead to 15-9 until WT countered and the score was locked at 20-20 midway through the first half.

BHSU followed by rattling off an 8-0 run, highlighted by a pair of Moussa threes to go up 28-20. A few minutes later, back-to-back Cisse layups put the Yellow Jacket lead into double-figures at 32-22 with 6:54 to go.

WT cut into the BHSU lead ahead of halftime, drawing back to within two, 41-39 with under two minutes left, but Scott dropped six straight down the stretch before a last-second Dukic layup gave the Yellow Jackets a 47-40 advantage going into the break.

Out of the locker room, a 10-0 spurt from the Yellow Jackets put their lead back to double-digits when a Moussa three followed by a Scott free throw extended the lead to 59-45 with 13:50 remaining.

BHSU slowly built their lead over the next few minutes until a Dukic trey with 8:14 on the clock put BHSU ahead 71-55, their largest lead of the game. But WT would close the gap, using an 8-0 run to cut the BHSU lead in half and make it a 75-67 game with 4:35 to play.

Layups from Cisse and Dukic late in the game pushed the Yellow Jacket lead to 87-74 as the clock ticked under 90 seconds.

Down the stretch, a Cisarik layup and pair of free throws in the final seconds iced the 91-77 victory.

Notes

• Scott now sits at 723 points this season, 11 away from breaking the all-time school record for points in a season, held by Kim Templeton (733 points, 1975-76).
• Men's basketball adds first-ever Sweet Sixteen berth to it's long list of firsts this season.
• Scored a season-high 50 points in the paint, while out-rebounding WT 48-36.

Up Next
The Yellow Jackets move on to the Sweet Sixteen and will play Tuesday, March 15 at 6 p.m. MT. Their opponent will be the winner between No. 1 seed Lubbock Christian and No. 4 seed Colorado Mesa.