SPEARFISH, S.D. – The No. 20 Black Hills State University men's basketball team pulled away in the second half in what was the 500^th BHSU men's basketball contest in A2 Arena, defeating Colorado School of Mines 87-69 on Thursday night. The win pulls the Yellow Jackets back atop the RMAC standings as a part of a 3-way tie for first place as Colorado Mesa downed Fort Lewis to bring each of the three teams even with 12-3 RMAC marks. To take advantage of the Mavericks win out west, the Yellow Jackets needed to close out a battle with the Orediggers that saw the squads separated by just four points at the halftime break after a back-and-forth opening 20 minutes as both teams shot 50.0 percent or better from the field and 3-point range. The Green & Gold would be the ones to land the final punch towards the midpoint of the second half, as a 9-0 scoring run put them ahead for good as they steadily increased the lead to as much as 20 points late and held the Mines offense in check.
 
QUICK DETAILS
Score: No. 20 Black Hills State 87, Colorado School of Mines 69
Team Records: No. 20 Black Hills State 19-4 (12-3 RMAC), Colorado School of Mines 13-13 (9-6 RMAC)
Attendance: 1,434
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Black Hills State began the scoring in the contest as Jackson Seale handed the ball off to Cam Lowe, who then stepped behind the Yellow Jacket big man for a top of the key 3-pointer just 27 seconds into the contest. It took nearly two minutes for Colorado School of Mines to find their first bucket of the game, however, Kellon Johnson and Alex Romack each connected on triples of their own off steals to give the Orediggers a 6-3 advantage with 16:58 to play in the opening half.
• Mines held a lead of as many as five points, their largest of the game, in the early stages of the match-up as Derek Lamb took a bounce pass from Braydon Jacob on the right-block, turned and put his head down to finish a tough layup to make it a 15-10 game with 12:50 remaining in the first half.
• The Yellow Jackets, however, turned the momentum as Joel Speckman scored five consecutive points in just under a minute to tie the game at 15 apiece. First it was Jack Haggett finding him open from the left-wing and hit him on a cut to the rim for a left-handed layup, and then it was Haggett again pushing the ball in transition and finding Speckman for another left-handed layup as he drew a foul and converted a 3-point play with 11:43 to play in the half. The old-fashioned 3-point play gave Speckman seven of the first 15 points for the Green & Gold. The scoring run continued to 9-0 for BHSU as Myles Johnson added a driving right-handed layup and the ensuing possession Cam Lowe found an open path to the hoop for a 2-handed dunk to force a Mines timeout with 10:38 on the clock with the Yellow Jackets leading 19-15.
• Black Hills State also held a lead of as many as just five points in the opening half, as minutes later Lowe sank a one dribble pull up 3-pointer from the top of the key and then the next time down the court he laid in a left-handed layup off a pass inside from Johnson to make it 24-19 with 8:48 to play.
• The shooting than began to heat up even more in the final eight minutes before the halftime break as the game saw four ties and eight lead changes down the stretch. The Orediggers closed the first half by knocking down 7-of-12 field goal attempts, and 6-of-9 3-pointers, which included a quick nine points from Will Cordonnier off the bench as he hit three triples in a three minute stretch. While on the other end of the court, the Yellow Jackets went 9-of-16 from the field and 4-of-7 from beyond the arc, including sinking their final three attempts from deep to close the half. Also, off the bench Tristan Hurdle additionally connected on a trio of triples in a four minute stretch in the closing minutes.
• The Green & Gold ended the first half on a 7-2 scoring run in the final 1:23 as Johnson first hit a left-corner 3-pointer and BJ Woodruff added a turnaround jumper in the paint and Seale added a putback layup to bring the score to 46-42 at the break.
• The opening minutes of the second half saw buckets by Seale, who hit a jumper in the paint off a Lowe assist, and Jaeton Hackley, who laid in a transition layup off an assist from Woodruff, to go up by six points (50-44) with 18:40 to play in the game. The Orediggers, however, continued to battle as an 8-0 scoring run, sparked by a pair of free throws by Romack, gave Mines their final lead of the game at 52-50 with a pull up jumper from the free throw line by Shelton Henton as the clock showed 14:53 remaining.
• The Yellow Jackets responded to the Oredigger scoring run with another one of their own, this time a 9-0 scoring run to take the lead for good, as Johnson capped the rally with a pair of free throws with 12:15 to play and a 59-52 advantage. Following the run, the momentum continued to grow, as Hurdle came in and sank 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions from the left-wing and top of the key respectively to make it a 65-56 game with 10:39 on the clock.
• The lead grew to double digits for Black Hills State as Hackley found Lowe in transition for a layup and a foul, as the old-fashioned 3-point play made it 70-60 with 8:35 remaining on the clock. The assist by Hackley on the play marked the 250^th of his BHSU career, making him one of just seven players in school history to reach the milestone. The momentum play was in the midst of a 21-6 scoring run that pushed the game out of reach over a nearly seven minute stretch for the Yellow Jackets as Woodruff gave them their largest lead of the game (86-66) as he hit a turnaround jumper in the paint with 2:19 to play.
• The scoring came to a close in the final minute as Silas McCurnin banked in a right-wing 3-pointer off an assist from Cordonnier for the Orediggers with 39.6 seconds to play, and then Woodruff went 1-of-2 at the charity stripe with 19.8 seconds remaining after collecting his second steal of the night to help make it an 87-69 final score.

BLACK HILLS STATE STATISTICAL LEADERS
Cam Lowe: 18 points, 7-of-10 field goals, 3-of-5 3-pointers, 1-of-1 free throws, 8 rebounds, 4 assists
Myles Johnson: 15 points, 5-of-9 field goals, 1-of-1 3-pointers, 4-of-6 free throws, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals
Tristan Hurdle: 15 points, 5-of-8 field goals, 5-of-7 3-pointers, 2 rebounds
Jaeton Hackley: 10 points, 5-of-13 field goals, 1 rebound, 4 assists
 
UP NEXT
Black Hills State remains at home for a 3 p.m. game against Regis on Saturday, February 14, in A2 Arena. The game will be available streaming live on the RMAC Network and on KDSJ Radio. Additionally, the game will air on linear tv on both KNBN-2 (Rapid City) and KSFL (Sioux Falls).
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