CANYON, Texas - Black Hills State men's basketball toppled No. 2 Fort Lewis, 81-66, Sunday night to continue their postseason run.

Entering the game 0-3 against the Skyhawks this season, the Yellow Jackets (27-5, 18-4 RMAC) fought to the end in this one, out-rebounding FLC 42-32 and keeping them to 15.4 percent from beyond the arc.

Joel Scott made his presence known with 23 points and 19 rebounds to go along with four steals and two blocks.

Sindou Cisse was excellent on defense, holding the leading scorer in the nation, Akuel Kot, to 4-of-10 shooting from the floor and 14 points in the game. Cisse himself finished with 14 points, three assists and two blocks.

Matthew Ragsdale and Jaeton Hackley each finished with 13 points with four made field goals. Hackley added three steals on defense.

PJ Hayes was the fifth Yellow Jackets in double-digit scoring tonight with 10 points while also grabbing three steals.

Ryker Cisarik added eight points, going 4-of-7 from the field, and six rebounds.



Hayes and Scott opened the scoring for the Yellow Jackets, getting them out to an early 5-4 lead before threes from Hayes and Ragsdale gave BHSU an 11-6 lead.

After a pair of Cisarik jumpers, a Cisse 3-point play and a Hayes trey helped the Yellow Jackets out to an 11-4 spurt to extend to an 28-17 lead with under eight to go. After the Skyhawks scored a pair of unanswered shots, a technical on the FLC bench resulted in a pair of Ragsdale freebies to make it 33-21 with just over five remaining.

In the closing minutes of the first half, a Hackley 3-pointer and Cisarik pull up helped the Yellow Jackets take a 40-32 lead into the locker room.

Out of the break, an 8-0 run capped by a Hackley 3-point play gave BHSU its largest lead of the game, 50-35 with 16:26 on the clock.

Minutes later, a FLC 7-point spurt pulled the Skyhawks within 10, making it a 55-47 ballgame, but back-and-forth play carried the game into under seven minutes to play when a Ragsdale jumper made it a 63-55 Yellow Jacket lead.

A Cisse three and Scott 3-point play followed made it a 10-1 scoring run, extending the lead back to 15, 71-56 with under five to play.

FLC inched back to within 10 once more, 73-63, as the clock ticked under two minutes and the team began fouling. BHSU went 6-of-8 from the charity stripe down the stretch to secure the 81-66 victory.

Notes

• As a program, the Yellow Jackets are 6-1 all time in NCAA Tournament play.
• With 19 rebounds, Joel Scott now sits at 964 for his career, 36 shy of 1,000.
• Scott and Ragsdale have combined for 1,159 points so far this season, giving them the most combined points by a pair of NCAA teammates who were also high school teammates, surpassing 1,047 scored by Dick and Tom Van Arsdale at Indiana in the 1963-64 season.

Up Next
The Yellow Jackets advance to the South Central Regional Championship for the second year in a row, and will take on No. 1 West Texas A&M on Tuesday, March 14 at 6 p.m. MT.