BISMARCK, N.D. – The No. 23 Black Hills State University men's basketball team answered every punch thrown at them by Minot State on Friday afternoon in the opening contest of the Dakota Challenge, securing a 72-65 win over the NSIC foe in the McDowell Activity Center. The Yellow Jackets opened the match-up by connecting on 11 of their first 12 shot attempts in the first nine and a half minutes, jumping out to a lead of as many as 14 points as they shot 54.6 percent in the opening 20 minutes of play. The Beavers fought back on multiple occasions in the second half and remained within striking distance, even tying the game at 51 apiece with just over 11 minutes to play with a 14-0 run, but the Green & Gold put the game out of reach with a 14-2 run of their own as
Myles Johnson scored a quick five points and
Tristan Hurdle knocked down a trio of 3-pointers.
QUICK DETAILS
Score: No. 23 Black Hills State 72, Minot State 65
Team Records: No. 23 Black Hills State 4-1 (0-0 RMAC), Minot State 3-3 (0-0 NSIC)
Attendance: 117
HOW IT HAPPENED
- With a bucket from just inside the left-wing, Deuce Benjamin gave Minot State an early 2-0 advantage 30 seconds into the contest. Black Hills State, however, responded with a 9-3 scoring run to take a 9-5 lead, making their first four shot attempts as Jackson Seale connected on the first 3-pointer of the day for the Yellow Jackets from the left-wing off an assist from Jaeton Hackley with 17:10 to play in the opening half.
- After a back-and-forth battle in the early minutes, the shots continued to fall for the Green & Gold as they made 11 of their first 12 attempts from the field in the first nine and a half minutes. They opened the lead up to nine points (25-16) with 10:41 to play as Hackley converted an old-fashioned 3-point play following a hard right side drive to the rim for a layup plus the foul to cap a 9-2 run.
- The Beavers briefly trimmed the lead down to just six points on a pair of occasions, however, another 11-3 scoring run for the Yellow Jackets pushed the lead to a first half high of 14 points (38-24) as a Seale blocked shot turned into a quick offensive attack on the other end of the court with Blake Volmer finding Hackley with an open lane to the paint for a pull up jumper with 3:27 to play till the halftime break.
- Minot State continued to stay within striking distance with seven unanswered points to make it 38-31 in the final minute, but Tristan Hurdle added a driving left-handed layup with just 16 seconds to play in the first half and make it 40-31 in favor of the Green & Gold at halftime.
- After being fouled on a 3-point attempt from the left-corner, Benjamin went 3-of-3 from the charity stripe to give the Beavers the first points of the second half two minutes in, trimming the lead to 40-34.
- Seale quickly responded on the opposite side of the court, knocking down his second 3-pointer of the contest off an assist from Volmer in the right-corner to spark an 11-3 scoring run. Capping the rally was a 2-handed dunk by Myles Johnson off a screen and dish from Jack Haggett, followed by a steal and assist by Haggett to Volmer for the fastbreak layup to match the largest lead of the game at 14 points (51-37) with 14:58 to play in the contest.
- Minot State remained in the game by answering with a 14-0 scoring run the next 3:45 of game time to tie the game at 51 apiece as Benjamin laid the ball in off the glass on a left-handed drive to the basket with 11:13 to play. Benjamin scored ten of the 14 Beaver points during the 14-0 rally, including a pair of buckets from beyond the arc.
- Despite the 14 unanswered points by the Beavers, the Yellow Jackets would not surrender the lead, and responded with eight consecutive points, including a quick five by Johnson to break the tie as he sunk a right-corner 3-pointer and snagged a steal and added fastbreak right-handed layup. The run extended to 14-2 as following Johnson's five points; Hurdle connected on a trio of 3-pointers over the next two and a half minutes to push the lead back to double digits at 65-53 with 7:45 to play in the game.
- Minot State made one final push as they got back within five points as a 7-0 run was capped by a reverse layup by Darik Dissette to make it 65-60 with 5:50 remaining, but BHSU kept the Beavers at bay as a 7-2 run with free throws by Willie Patterson III made it a ten point game (72-62) with 3:09 left on the clock. The ten point advantage proved to be enough for the Green & Gold to improve to 4-1 despite being held scoreless the final three minutes of action as the defense limited Minot State to just two made shots the final five minutes of the contest.
BLACK HILLS STATE STATISTICAL LEADERS
Cam Lowe: 15 points, 3-of-5 3-pointers, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 4 steals
Myles Johnson: 13 points, 6-of-11 field goals, 5 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals
Tristan Hurdle: 11 points, 3-of-6 3-pointers, 1 rebound, 2 assists, 1 block
Jaeton Hackley: 9 points, 4-of-9 field goals, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal
Jackson Seale: 8 points, 2-of-5 3-pointers, 2 rebounds, 7 assists, 4 blocks
UP NEXT
Black Hills State remains in Bismarck, North Dakota, for a match-up with the Dakota Challenge hosts of UMary on Saturday, November 29, in a 4 p.m. MT / 5 p.m. CT contest in the McDowell Activity Center.
