Black Hills State men's basketball dropped its season opener to Oklahoma Christian Friday night, 72-53.

The Yellow Jackets (0-1, 0-0 RMAC) shot 41.3 percent from the field and 40.9 percent from deep, but surrendered 23 points off turnovers and 19 second chance points.

Ronnail Tape led the offense with 12 points, going 4-of-5 from the field, while recording two assists and a block.

Myles Johnson tallied 11 points and three steals, while Caelin Hearne scored eight with a pair of 3-pointers, two rebounds, a block and a steal.

John Shanklin paced the team with five rebounds to go with four points. Hoku Fisher scored seven and grabbed four boards, and Matthew Ragsdale scored six.

After a quick start from OC, back-to-back threes from Ragsdale and Tape drew BHSU back within one, 7-6, in the opening minutes.

Teams traded buckets from there, as jumpers from Tape and Shanklin evened the game at 10-10 with 14:15 to go in the first. OC would slip back in front from there, but threes from Hearne and Fisher kept it a 4-point game, 24-20, with 6:26 left in the half.

Later, down 27-20, Johnson sank a layup and then used a steal and score to make it 29-24 going into the final two minutes of the first half.

A layup in the final seconds of the first from Speckman gave the Yellow Jackets two more before the break, as the team trailed 34-28 at halftime.

Out of the locker room, a three from tape and a Shanklin dunk drew BHSU to within five, 38-33, but seven straight from the Eagles would stretch their lead to 45-33 with under 15 minutes remaining.

Later trailing 50-35, Gunnlaugsson drained a three midway through the second to draw back to 50-38, but OC wouldn't back down. The Eagles would eventually extend their lead to 60-40 with 7:13 to play.

Down the stretch, threes from Fisher, Hearne and Johnson would help keep pace with OC, but BHSU would run out of time, falling 72-53.

Up Next
The Yellow Jackets return to the court on Saturday, Nov. 11 to face Arkansas Fort Smith at 6 p.m.