EVANSVILLE, Ind. - Black Hills State men's basketball moved past No. 6 Minnesota Duluth, 86-68, in their Elite Eight matchup Tuesday afternoon.

The Yellow Jackets (29-5, 18-4 RMAC) played excellent all around, shooting over 53 percent from the floor and 47 percent from beyond the arc, while also outscoring the Bulldogs 26-7 in points off turnovers.

Matthew Ragsdale led the scoring with a season-high 25, knocking down 5-of-7 from deep and 9-of-12 from the field to go along with five boards, three assists and two blocks.

Joel Scott went 8-of-14 on the floor and 7-of-10 from the charity stripe for 23 points, five rebounds, and a trio of blocks.

Sindou Cisse and Ryker Cisarik each added 13 points. Cisse grabbed six boards and dished out five assists while Cisarik had four rebounds and two steals.

Jaeton Hackley was an efficient 2-of-2 from the floor, and from the free throw line, totaling seven points, three rebounds, two assists and two steals.



After Minnesota Duluth used a pair of early 3-pointers to take a 12-5 lead four minutes into the game, the Yellow Jacket offense lit up for seven unanswered using a Cisse layup and five points from Ragsdale to even the score at 12-all.

Two minutes later, a 10-0 scoring run featuring Cisarik and Scott layups and treys from Ragsdale and Cisarik pushed BHSU out to a 22-15 lead midway through the first.

UMD would inch back over the next three minutes, pulling within four, 24-20 at 9:38, but BHSU wouldn't let up, using big shots from Ragsdale, Hayes, Hackley and Cisarik to outscore the Bulldogs 21-12 the rest of the half and take a 45-32 lead into the locker room.

Both teams traded points out of the break with seven consecutive points from Scott, making it 52-38 with 16:28 to go. Buckets from Scott and Cisarik before jumpers from Ragsdale and Hearne at 11:01 stretched the Yellow Jacket lead to 64-47.

The Bulldogs weren't done, however, drawing back to within 10 points, 64-54 with 8:41 remaining. But after a timeout, the BHSU offense finished strong the rest of the way.

With under four to play, a Scott dunk capped a 7-0 spurt and gave the Yellow Jackets their first 20-point lead, 84-64, before BHSU finished the game with an 86-68 victory.

Notes

• As a program, the Yellow Jackets are 8-1 all time in NCAA Tournament play.
• With five rebounds, Joel Scott now sits at 983 for his career, 17 shy of 1,000.
• Scott and Ragsdale have combined for 1,238 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.
• Scott's season points total is 775, 12 shy of the BHSU single-season scoring record of 787 he set last season.
• At 29-5, BHSU has reached its highest win total since moving DII, and the second-highest win total in program history. The program went 28-7 in the 2010-11 season (their final year as a member of the NAIA) and a program-best 30-5 in 2008-09.
• With a career coaching record of 104-40, his .722 winning percentage is the highest in school history among coaches who have managed at least 50 games.

Up Next
The Yellow Jackets advance to the Final Four for the second year in a row, and will now take on No. 2 West Liberty on Thursday, March 23 at 12 p.m. MT.