SPEARFISH, S.D. – It was total domination from the opening tip by the Black Hills State University men's basketball team, as they used a three-point barrage to steamroll CSU Pueblo, 84-69, inside A2 Arena on Saturday evening. Deegan Williams (So.., Gillette, Wyo.) posted his first double-double as a Yellow Jacket while Caelin Hearne (Jr., Norman, Okla.) continued his strong stretch of play with 21 to lead the way in the victory.

With the win, BHSU inched back to .500 mark, and have won their last three on their home floor. They also advance to 7-5 against Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) opponents and jump into fourth place thanks to Chadron State's loss to Regis in Denver. The Thunderwolves on the other hand, fall below .500 for the first time since their opening weekend at 9-10, and 5-8 in RMAC play.

The Yellow Jackets put together their most efficient shooting night of the season, making 57.9% of their shots as a team, and fell just a couple of decimal points shy of their season-best three-point percentage at 45.2%, although they did make a season-high 14 of them. CSUP shot a respectable 45.5% from the field, but it was not enough as the BHSU defense held the most efficient three-point shooting team in the RMAC entering the weekend to just 2-of-15  on their three-point attempts. They did collect 17 points at the charity stripe, however.

Hearne was virtually unstoppable making seven of his ten shot attempts in the contest, including five-of-seven from three, adding six rebounds.

Williams was equally efficient, shooting five-for-seven overall and four-of-six from deep on his way to a career-high 14 points to go with both a career and game-best 11 caroms.

Matthew Ragsdale (Gr., Colorado Springs, Colo.) tacked on 14 points on 7-of-14 despite missing all six of his threes.

Four other Yellow Jackets contributed five-or-more points, among them Hoku Fisher (So., Wilmington, N.C.) who scored eight to go with a game-high four assists that doubled-up CSU Pueblo's total as a team.

De'Shaun Cooper led CSUP with 16 on the night on six-of-nine shooting.

Makiah Morris finished with 11 points although he needed 13 shots to get there. He also collected a team-high six rebounds and distributed one of the Thunderwolves' two assists on the night.

Corbin Garver added 11 in reserve for CSU Pueblo to round out the double-digit scorers.

Black Hills State picked up right where they left off in the second half on Friday night scoring on eight of their first ten possessions of the game, including a couple of threes from Hearne, exploding out to a 19-15 lead. The advantage would continue to swell for the home team with the three-ball playing a major role, a five-for-eight start from range led to a nine-point advantage, that also led to a Thunderwolves timeout after a Joel Speckman (Fr., Parker, Colo.) putback layup. The timeout was extended to the under-eight media break with the Yellow Jackets leading 34-25.

The stoppage was only a temporary delay as the BHSU bombardment from range just continued with Williams extending his total to four in the frame, and Fisher also getting in on the fun. A Ragsdale layup with 5:40 remaining in the stanza saw the BHSU lead balloon to a half-best dozen. The pack would chip into that lead some, and a Makiah Morris layup at the horn would cut the deficit to single digits, but it was still 45-36 in favor of Black Hills State into the locker room.

Williams led all players with 12 in the opening half, connecting on four of his six shots, all of them from range. Hearne added 11 making four-of-five, including three-of-four from three. Cooper led the CSUP attack with 11 in the opening frame while Makiah Morris and Armon Muldrew added seven each.

The Yellow Jackets cashed in on eight of their 15 looks from deep, and 62.1% of their shot attempts overall. A CSU Pueblo team that averages over 35 rebounds per game on the season was limited to a measly ten in the first half and none on the offensive end. While BHSU shot the lights out in the opening half of play, CSUP made just one of their seven three-point attempts in the half. All things considered, it is impressive that it was just a nine-point game, but they left a lot of points on the court going just three-of-nine from the charity stripe.

Black Hills State just continued to pile it on out of the half, they collected two of the first three baskets in the frame, getting the lead to double-figures and it would never get inside of ten the rest of the way. BHSU extended their half-opening run to 12-4 putting the game away for all intents and purposes.

The rest of the game would be highlighted by BHSU extending their lead to a season-best 27 points at the 8:26 mark, Dawson Mohr (So., Scottsbluff, Neb.) collecting his first nine points as a Yellow Jacket, Williams recording his first career double-double with one those rebounds leading to a tomahawk jam from Tape, a monster dunk from Myles Johnson (Jr., Portage, Mich.), and Ty Nettles (So., Aurora, Colo.) making his home debut. The Thunderwolves did make the score more reasonable against the end of the BHSU bench, but the Yellow Jackets has already secured the win, and the score settled at 84-69.

Hearne added ten more points to his final tally in the second half with Mohr being BHSU's second-leading scorer in the stanza. Andon Mindrup scored seven in garbage time to lead CSU Pueblo.

The Thunderwolves got to the line a ton in the second half, going 14-of-17 from the stripe in the frame, but they continued to scuffle from range, making just one of their eight attempts from beyond the arch. The Yellow Jackets cooled off a little in the half from deep, but a 37.5% rate on 16 attempts was more than enough especially as they shot 53.6% from the field overall.

It will be a quick turnaround for BHSU who hopes to ride their momentum to Rapid City against the Hardrockers of South Dakota Mines on Wednesday night at the King Center. Tipoff is set for 7:30 PM.

A NOTE FROM THE WRITER: Thank you Yellow Jacket Nation! Your passion is infectious and made my year and a half at Black Hills State unforgettable. Thank you for everything.

Bryce Johnson, signing off.