SPEARFISH, S.D. – A game removed from surrendering their most points this season, the Black Hills State University men's basketball team locked down South Dakota Mines as they cruised to a 65-44 win in A2 Arena on Saturday evening. The 44 points by the Hardrockers were the fewest points allowed by the Yellow Jackets this season as well as the fewest points allowed since they held Montana State Billings to just 38 points on November 23, 2022. As BHSU jumped out to a 15 point halftime advantage thanks to a 32-12 run over the final 13:49 of the first half, the Green & Gold only strengthened their hold on the SDM offense as they limited them to just 5-of-22 (22.7%) shooting from the field, 0-of-5 (0.0%) shooting from 3-point range, and 10-of-15 (66.7%) shooting from the free throw line in the second half. Spearheading the charge for Black Hills State in the contest was redshirt freshman Cam Lowe, who poured in a game-high 22 points and added 11 rebounds for his fifth double-double of the season.
 
QUICK DETAILS
Score: Black Hills State 65, South Dakota Mines 44
Team Records: Black Hills State 11-9 (7-5 RMAC), South Dakota Mines 4-16 (4-8 RMAC)
Attendance: 3,178
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• John Shanklin started the game with a bang, hammering home a 2-handed dunk off the right-block, as Jaeton Hackley found him while cutting through the paint, giving Black Hills State the 2-0 lead just 14 seconds into the contest. Despite the Yellow Jackets scoring the first four points of the game, South Dakota Mines responded by making six of their first eight shots from the field during a 12-3 scoring run to take a 12-7 lead into the under-16 media timeout with 13:51 remaining in the first half following a right-handed layup by Guido Wanschelbaum as Abel Hutchinson found him while driving the left-baseline.
• The Hardrockers eventually took a lead of as many as five points (17-12) as Guillem Garcia made a left-handed layup through a pair of Yellow Jacket defenders. A 12-2 scoring run in response for BHSU flipped the margin, giving the Green & Gold the five point edge (24-19) as Jack Haggett stepped out and connected on a left-wing 3-pointer off the pass from Blake Volmer with 8:44 left on the first half clock.
• The Black Hills State scoring run continued to grow to 22-4 over a more than nine minute stretch, capped by a left-wing 3-pointer by Cam Lowe to give the home team a 13-point advantage at 32-19. During the rally South Dakota Mines was held scoreless for nearly six and a half minutes before Tre Dowdell knocked down a 3-pointer off the right-wing and the A2 Arena logo. Hackley closed out the first half scoring with a driving right-hand layup through contact as he drew the foul. Despite missing the and-one free throw, Black Hills State took a 39-24 lead into the break as they out-scored South Dakota Mines 32-12 in the final 13:49 of the first half.
• Neither team could find the basket in the first three minutes of the second half, shooting a combined 0-of-7 from the field before Hutchinson scored the first basket on jumper in the paint to make it a 39-26 game with 16:44 to play in the game. The first Yellow Jacket basket of the second half didn't come until nearly a minute later as Caelin Hearne hit a right-wing 3-pointer off a screen from Haggett, extending the BHSU lead to 16 points (42-26) with 15:48 to play.
• The teams continued to struggle shooting the ball up until a right-baseline jumper by Lowe off a Hackley inbounds pass sparked a 9-1 scoring run at the 13:47 mark of the second half. The run for the Yellow Jackets pushed the lead to 21 points (48-27) as Dawson Moore picked off a pass, went the length of the court and finished the play with a right-handed layup with 12:57 to play.
• The Hardrockers trimmed the Yellow Jacket lead down to 15 points (49-34) with a quick 7-1 run that was capped by a 1-of-2 trip to the charity stripe by Luke Stoddard with 9:42 to play, however, that would be all the closer Black Hills State would allow them to get.
• During a corresponding 12-4 run that spanned 6:44 of game time by the Green & Gold, they pushed their lead back to 21 points (59-38) as Hearne dished off a pass to Haggett on the left-block for a 2-handed dunk with just 3:43 remaining in the contest. Just over a minute later Lowe capped the run with a pair of free throws to give Black Hills State their largest lead of the game at 23 points (61-38). During the rally the Yellow Jacket defense again held the Hardrockers in check, limiting them to just 1-of-6 shooting from the field.
• Six consecutive points for SDM briefly cut the margin back to 17 points again as Stoddard banked in a floater in the paint to make it a 61-44 game with just 1:19 remaining on the clock. BHSU closed out the scoring in the match-up with layups by Haggett and Deegan Williams to bring the final score to 65-44, ending the Hardrockers 3-game win streak in the series.

BLACK HILLS STATE STATISTICAL LEADERS
Cam Lowe: 22 points, 4-of-7 3-pointers, 11 rebounds, 1 steal
Jaeton Hackley: 11 points, 4-of-8 field goals, 7 assists, 3 steals
Jack Haggett: 9 points, 4-of-6 field goals, 4 rebounds, 1 block, 1 steal
 
UP NEXT
Black Hills State remains at home next weekend as they host CSU Pueblo for a 7 p.m. tip-off in A2 Arena on Thursday, February 6.
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