DENVER, Colo. – The Black Hills State University men's basketball team recorded their fourth season opening win in the last five years as they took down Sul Ross State 86-54 in the Auraria Event Center on Sunday afternoon. After the Lobos cut the lead to within four points late in the opening half, the Yellow Jackets took full control of the contest with a 33-5 scoring run that stretched midway into the second half. While eight scored in the match-up for the Green & Gold on opening day, it was the quartet of Myles Johnson, Jack Haggett, Willie Patterson III, and BJ Woodruff that led the way as they combined for 56 points while shooting the ball 21-of-27 from the floor for an efficient 77.8 percent clip. For Johnson it was his first game back since the final game of 2023-24, and he made his reemergence known with a career-high 18 points.
 
QUICK DETAILS
Score: Black Hills State 86, Sul Ross State 54
Team Records: Black Hills State 1-0 (0-0 RMAC), Sul Ross State 0-1 (0-0 Lone Star)
Attendance: 162
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• The reigning RMAC Freshman of the Year, Cam Lowe, kicked things off for year two in the Green & Gold as he knocked down the opening shot of the game with a top of the key 3-pointer just 30 seconds into the contest.
• Sul Ross kept things close early as Keagan Moncrief started the scoring for the Lobos with a driving right-handed layup and then a left-wing 3-pointer to give them a 5-3 advantage.
• The Yellow Jackets took the lead back with a 7-2 run as Willie Patterson III connected on a pair of free throws to make it 10-7 with 14:25 to play in the first half before SRSU answered with an 8-2 scoring run of their own as Manny Flores and Jackson Thoele hit back-to-back 3-pointers to take a 15-13 lead with 12:27 on the clock.
• The lead would trade hands three more times as Black Hills State eventually took the lead for good as Jaeton Hackley found Myles Johnson in the right-corner for a fastbreak 3-pointer to give BHSU a 21-19 lead with 9:34 to play in the opening half. The corner three sparked a 13-0 scoring run that was capped by a 2-handed dunk by Patterson from the left-block.
• The Lobos battled back to within four points (33-29) with a 10-2 run, but Jack Haggett swung the momentum back to the Yellow Jackets entering the locker room as he ended the half with five consecutive points. Haggett converted an old-fashioned 3-point play off an assist from Hackley and then Lowe found him on the right-block for a layup to make it 38-29 at the break.
• Johnson continued the momentum into the second half as Lowe found him for a fastbreak dunk just 25 seconds in. The Lobos added three free throws in the opening two minutes, however, the Green & Gold used shutdown defense to hold them without a field goal until the 13:41 mark as the lead grew to 24 points (56-32) with 14 unanswered points. The run which started in the final minutes of the first half would extend to as big as 33-5 with a tip-in by Patterson to make it 66-34 with 11:29 to play in the game.
• SRSU briefly trimmed the lead under 30 points on two occasions in the final ten minutes of action, however, BHSU posted responses to build the advantage to their largest lead of the afternoon (35 points) twice as well. First capping a 10-2 scoring run was BJ Woodruff with his third of four 3-pointers on the day to push the lead to 76-41 with 6:54 to play, and then in the final minute a 3-pointer by Blake Volmer and a fastbreak dunk by Johnson pushed the lead to 86-51 before the Lobos' Chianti Clay concluded the scoring in the game with a right-wing 3-pointer to make the final 86-54.

BLACK HILLS STATE STATISTICAL LEADERS
Myles Johnson: 18 points, 7-8 field goals, 3-3 free throws, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal
Jack Haggett: 14 points, 5-7 field goals, 4-4 free throws, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 blocks
Willie Patterson III: 12 points, 5-5 field goals, 2-2 free throws, 11 rebounds, 1 block
BJ Woodruff: 12 points, 4-7 field goals, 4-6 3-pointers, 1 rebound, 1 assist
 
UP NEXT
Black Hills State closes out the opening weekend of play with their second Lone Star Conference foe in as many days in Denver as they face Texas A&M-International at 1 p.m. on Monday, November 17, in the Auraria Event Center.
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