RAPID CITY, S.D. – After a tight first half between the two west river rivals, the No. 21 Black Hills State University men's basketball team erupted for 59 second half points in a 104-76 win against South Dakota Mines in the King Center. Led by a trio of 20-point scorers, the most since a 2022 NCAA Tournament victory over West Texas A&M, the Yellow Jackets shot a season-best 60.0 percent from the field and 46.7 percent from beyond the arc. Leading the charge for the Green & Gold was redshirt junior
Jaeton Hackley who was red hot shooting all night long, scoring a career-high 29 points on 11-of-12 shooting from the floor and was a perfect 4-of-4 from distance. Adding season-highs and joining the 20-point scorers on the night was
Cam Lowe (23) and
Willie Patterson III (20).
QUICK DETAILS
Score: No. 21 Black Hills State 104, South Dakota Mines 76
Team Records: No. 23 Black Hills State 6-1 (1-0 RMAC), South Dakota Mines 2-6 (0-1 RMAC)
Attendance: 738
HOW IT HAPPENED
- After a driving right-handed layup by Myles Johnson to begin the contest, Jaeton Hackley added a pair of buckets for the first six points of the game for the Yellow Jackets to take a 6-0 lead two and a half minutes in. The scoring run for Black Hills State grew to 9-2 as Hackley found Jackson Seale at the top of the key for a triple with 16:51 to play in the first half.
- South Dakota Mines had an answer with nine unanswered points, including seven by Jason Lee, as the Hardrockers took an 11-9 lead with 14:17 on the clock when Gavin Soukup made a driving right-handed layup. The run would come to an end as Willie Patterson III sank a left-wing 3-pointer off an assist by Tristan Hurdle to give BHSU the lead back (12-11) with 14:02 on the clock. Black Hills State's lead would then grow back to as many as six points (21-15), with momentum plays including a Cam Lowe 2-handed dunk and a second Seale 3-pointer with 10:19 remaining in the half.
- A 9-3 Hardrocker scoring run again tied the game at 24 apiece as Soukup connected on a deep right-wing 3-pointer as the shot clock was running down with 8:02 to play in the first half. The teams then went back-and-forth with BHSU's lead unable to grow larger than four points, until Hackley hit a pair of 3-pointers, including his third of the opening half to beat the shot clock and stretch the advantage to 45-37 with just 48 seconds to play. The 14 points set a season-high and the three 3-pointers matched a career-high in just the first 20 minutes of action. A late and-one by Lee brought the score to 45-40 at the break, as the transfer guard scored 27 of the Hardrockers 40 first half points.
- Out of the halftime break, Black Hills State pushed their lead to nine points, their largest of the contest up to that point as Lowe and Hackley added layups to make it a 49-40 game less than a minute into the second half. South Dakota Mines then momentarily cut the lead to just five points (56-51) as Lee found Soukup on a backdoor cut for a right-handed layup with 15:43 remaining in the contest.
- Five points was the closest the Hardrockers would get as an offensive rebound and putback by Patterson sparked ten unanswered points in less than a minute and a half as another Patterson layup made it a 66-51 game with 14:03 on the clock. The scoring run continued as Black Hills State took full control with the run extending to 19-4 and the lead growing to 20 points (75-55) with 11:35 remaining in the game. Over the 3:50 duration of the scoring run, the Green & Gold shot 8-of-10 from the field and 2-of-3 from beyond the arc.
- A quick transition 3-pointer from the top of the key for Gray Thompson sparked a 12-4 response for SDM as the lead was trimmed down to 79-67 as Lee knocked down a pair of free throws with 8:35 to play. The momentum then stalled out for the Hardrockers as Johnson and Patterson each hit a pair of their own free throw attempts to bring the margin back to 16 points (83-67) with 7:40 to play.
- After Lee's final basket, a 3-pointer with 4:07 to play, the Yellow Jackets closed the game on a 15-0 run to make it 104-76. BHSU shot 5-of-6 from the field in the last 3:44 of action, including 3-of-3 from deep, as Johnson collected a steal and a 2-handed dunk for the Green & Gold to eclipse the century mark and Hackley recorded his fourth triple of the game to close the scoring in the contest and secure a new career-high of 29 points.
BLACK HILLS STATE STATISTICAL LEADERS
Jaeton Hackley: 29 points, 11-of-12 field goals, 4-of-4 3-pointers, 5 assists, 3 rebounds
Cam Lowe: 23 points, 8-of-17 field goals, 4-of-12 3-pointers, 7 rebounds 1 assist, 1 steal
Willie Patterson III: 20 points, 8-of-12 field goals, 2-of-3 3-pointers, 11 rebounds
Jack Haggett: 12 points, 5-of-10 field goals, 6 assists, 3 rebounds, 2 blocks
Myles Johnson: 11 points, 4-of-8 field goals, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, 1 block
Jackson Seale: 9 points, 3-of-3 3-pointers, 1 assist
UP NEXT
Black Hills State will play their first home game of the season on Thursday, December 4, as they host Chadron State for a 7 p.m. tip-off in A2 Arena. Along with airing on the RMAC Network, the contest will also be aired on KNBN-2 (Rapid City) and KSFL (Sioux Falls) as a part of a linear tv package.
