MOORHEAD, Minn. – Looking to bounce back from their first defeat of the season last night, the No. 17 Black Hills State University men's basketball team weathered a sluggish start and defeated in-state foe Augustana by a score of 75-71 on Saturday afternoon in Nemzek Fieldhouse. The Yellow Jackets found themselves trailing 15-4 early in the game after a 2-of-13 start to the game from the field, however they regained the lead with a 17-3 run of their own midway through the first half and never looked back. The win snapped a 5-game losing streak in the East/West Challenge against NSIC competition as once again five players scored in double figures (Myles Johnson, Jaeton Hackley, Jack Haggett, Tristan Hurdle, and Willie Patterson III) for a combined 61 points on 53.7 percent shooting from the field.
 
QUICK DETAILS
Score: No. 17 Black Hills State 75, Augustana 71
Team Records: No. 17 Black Hills State 3-1 (0-0 RMAC), Augustana 1-3 (0-0 NSIC)
Attendance: 68
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• After scoring the first points of the game with a Myles Johnson right-handed layup, Augustana reeled off 13 consecutive points as a part of a 15-2 scoring run. The Vikings capped the run with a lay in by Caden Hinker to go up 15-4 with 11:53 to play in the opening half.
• The Yellow Jackets began the game just 2-of-13 from the field in the first eight minutes of action and snapped the Augie scoring run as Willie Patterson III hit a right-wing 3-pointer to momentarily cut the deficit back to single digits (15-7) with 11:30 on the first half clock. After trailing by as many as 11 points on multiple occasions, the Green & Gold saw six consecutive points from Tristan Hurdle, beginning with a top of the key triple with 9:41 to play and making it an 18-10 contest. The six straight points sparked a 17-3 scoring run which BHSU used to take a 24-21 advantage on a floater in the paint from Willie Patterson III with 4:38 remaining.
• Black Hills State took a 31-27 lead into the halftime break as Jackson Seale hit a mid-range jumper from the left side of the court with just 54 seconds left in the half. After trailing 15-4, the Yellow Jackets outscored the Vikings 27-12 in the final 12 minutes of the half.
• BHSU would not surrender the lead at any point in the second half and pushed their lead to nine points with a 10-3 scoring run midway through the half that was capped by right-handed hook shoot on a drive into the paint by Hurdle. The basket gave the Green & Gold a 52-43 lead with 12:10 left to play in the game.
• The Vikings would claw back to within three points (56-53) following a 10-4 run of their own with a pull up mid-range jumper from the right side of the court by Sam Rensch with just under eight minutes to play. The Yellow Jackets, however, would have another answer, outscoring Augustana 15-8 the next nearly six minutes as a thunderous two-handed fastbreak dunk by Johnson gave Black Hills State their largest lead of the contest at 71-61 with 2:18 to play.
• The Green & Gold withstood a 10-2 run by AU in the closing minutes, as a Rensch 3-pointer from the top of the key cut the lead to just two points (73-71) with 37.5 seconds remaining. With a 7.5 second differential between shot clock and game clock, the Vikings elected to play out the ensuing defensive possession, and Jack Haggett shut the door on the comeback with a lay in at the rim with 10.1 ticks of the clock left as he cut to the rim and received the ball off the drive from Jaeton Hackley, bringing the final score to 75-71.

BLACK HILLS STATE STATISTICAL LEADERS
Myles Johnson: 18 points, 7-11 field goals, 4-4 free throws, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block, 1 steal
Jaeton Hackley: 11 points, 5-12 field goals, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal
Jack Haggett: 11 points, 3-5 field goals, 4-5 free throws, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 3 blocks
Tristan Hurdle: 11 points, 3-7 field goals, 4-5 free throws, 3 rebounds
Willie Patterson III: 10 points, 4-6 field goals, 4 rebounds
 
UP NEXT
No. 17 Black Hills State will face their third straight NSIC opponent next Friday, November 28, as they face Minot State at 1 p.m. MT / 2 p.m. CT at the McDowell Activity Center in Bismarck, North Dakota, as a part of the Dakota Challenge.
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