Black Hills State University Athletics

SPEARFISH, S.D. – The No. 6 Black Hills State University men's basketball team overcame a cold start to the game on Friday night in A2 Arena, as they fended off Minot State for a 70-62 victory. Despite going more than ten minutes without a made field goal early in the first half, the Yellow Jackets rallied from a 13-point deficit and earned their ninth consecutive victory in their home venue and improved to 20-1 in their last 21 games in Spearfish since January 25, 2025. The shooting came to life for BHSU in the second half, hitting their first three 3-pointers en route to eight triples in the final 20 minutes of play and their first double digit 3-point performance as a team this season with 11 total on the evening.
 
QUICK DETAILS
Score: No. 6 Black Hills State 70, Minot State 62
Team Records: No. 6 Black Hills State 2-1 (0-0 RMAC), Minot State 2-2 (0-0 NSIC)
Attendance: 2,154
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• After Jaxon Smith connected on a pull up jumper just a few feet behind the free throw line on Black Hills State's opening possession of the game, 41 seconds into the contest, the Yellow Jackets went ice cold as they missed their next 16 shot attempts from the field over a ten-minute stretch. During the drought, Minot State took advantage, going on a 19-4 scoring run to take a 19-6 lead as Jayse Boatwright collected a rebound and took the ball up the court and quickly hit a step back 3-pointer from the right-wing. Boatwright scored nine of the first 19 points for the Beavers.
• The Green & Gold eventually broke the field goal drought and fought back into the game during the later stages of the first half. Beginning with back-to-back jumpers by Jaeton Hackley with 8:53 and 8:27 on the clock, BHSU connected on five straight shot attempts to fuel an 11-0 scoring run. Willie Patterson III capped the run with a right-handed layup off the right-block to pull Black Hills State back within two points (19-17).
• The Yellow Jacket defense held the Beavers scoreless for a 4:09, extending past the scoring run, before they broke the drought and briefly pushed their lead back to five points (22-17) with a left-handed layup by Parker Falcon and Boatwright added a free throw with 4:37 to play in the half.
• Down the stretch in the first half, a 3-pointer by Jaeton Hackley from the top of the key drew the Yellow Jackets back within a point at 23-22 with 3:32 on the clock, and then a couple of minutes later Ben Henderson found Johnnie Reed open on the left-wing, who buried a triple and gave the Green & Gold their first lead since the opening minutes at 26-25 with 1:51 left till the halftime break.
• Minot State added layups by Boatwright and Drew Kempel to regain the lead in the final minute and a half, but a floater by Smith with 19.3 seconds to play cut the BHSU deficit back to one point (29-28) at halftime.
• Out of the halftime break, Jackson Seale dished out a trio of assists to spark a 9-2 run to begin the second half as Smith first hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key and Henderson hit back-to-back triples the ensuing possessions from the left-wing to give Black Hills State a 37-31 advantage with 18:18 to play in the game.
• Minot State answered with a mini 6-0 scoring run, capped by a driving right-handed layup by Sean De Kovachich to tie the game back up at 37 apiece with 16:47 on the clock.
• Following another tie at 39 apiece, a left-wing 3-pointer from Blake Volmer off a kick out pass from Henderson gave the Yellow Jackets the lead for good with 15:32 to play.
• The Green & Gold then began to extend their lead, first reaching double figures at 53-43 with 7:59 to play as Patterson III gave Caiden Braketa a dribble handoff on the left-wing for a 3-pointer, and then Henderson made a driving layup from the left-wing to give BHSU the largest lead of the contest at 14 points (60-46), capping a 21-7 scoring run over 10:22 of game time.
• The Beavers were able to outscore the Yellow Jackets 16-10 the final 5:01 of game time, and trimmed the lead back to single digits twice, first with a pair of free throws from Boatwright to make it 66-57 with 1:39 to play and then driving right-handed fastbreak layup by Kiku Parker Jr. after he stole the ball brought the final score to 70-62 as he scored with 6.7 seconds remaining. 

BLACK HILLS STATE STATISTICAL LEADERS
Jaeton Hackley: 16 points, 6-13 field goals, 2 rebounds
Jaxon Smith: 15 points, 6-16 field goals, 3-9 3-pointers, 1 rebound
Ben Henderson: 11 points, 4-9 field goals, 2-3 3-pointers, 4 rebounds, 3 assists
Willie Patterson III: 9 points, 7-8 free throws, 13 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals
 
UP NEXT
No. 6 Black Hills State will play their second game of the home opening weekend in A2 Arena, concluding the Dakota Challenge with a 6 p.m. match-up against UMary in Spearfish. The game will be aired live on the RMAC Network and on KDSJ Radio.
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