PUEBLO, Colo. – The No. 13 Black Hills State University men's basketball team suffered a 71-53 defeat on the road to CSU Pueblo on Thursday night in Massari Arena, marking just the third RMAC loss of the year and the fourth overall for the Green & Gold. The Yellow Jackets had built a ten point advantage late in the first half, however, the ThunderWolves would end the first 20 minutes of action on a 14-3 scoring run. That scoring run would continue into the second half as the Pack knocked down their first five 3-pointers and extended the rally to 35-7 over a 13 and a minute stretch in the middle of the game. BHSU shot a season-low 33.9 percent from the field in the loss, which included making just 19 shot attempts, as they were held below 70 points for the first time this year.
 
QUICK DETAILS
Score: No. 13 Black Hills State 53, CSU Pueblo 71
Team Records: No. 13 Black Hills State 17-4 (10-3 RMAC), CSU Pueblo 14-7 (8-5 RMAC)
Attendance: 1,189
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• After a miss by each team on their opening possessions, the scoring in the game got underway with a bucket by Jackson Seale a foot off the left-elbow off an assist from Cam Lowe to make It 2-0 just over a minute into the contest. CSU Pueblo would tie the score at two and five in the early stages, however, the Yellow Jackets began to put some separation between the two teams starting with a 3-pointer from the left-corner by Tristan Hurdle off a Jaeton Hackley assist on the inbounds play to make it 12-7 with 13:40 to play in the opening half. During the midst of what would be a 13-4 scoring run for the Green & Gold, the BHSU defense held the Pack without a made field goal for a stretch of six minutes. The Black Hills State scoring run would be capped with a left-corner basket from beyond the arc by Lowe off an assist by Hackley, giving BHSU their largest lead of the game at ten points (22-12) with 6:07 remaining on the clock.
• The tides turned late in the first half with 12 unanswered points heading into the locker rooms for the ThunderWolves as they used a 14-3 scoring run over the final 6:19 of playing time to take a 24-22 advantage at the break. The run was sparked by a tough step-through jumper in the paint by Dylan Sanders with 6:19 to play in the half and then Cash Callaway hit a running floater in the paint off an assist from Mac Terry with 47 seconds to play to give CSUP their first lead of the game at 24-22.
• The CSUP scoring run extended into the second half as Terry connected on 3-pointers on both of their first two possessions to take a 30-24 lead with 19:04 to play. The CSU Pueblo lead reached double figures (36-26) just minutes later as the deep ball continued to fall for the Pack, as Sanders hit back-to-back triples, and a minute later Jordan Blair sank a fastbreak 3-pointer as the ThunderWolves hit their first five shots from beyond the arc to begin the second half. The scoring run was capped at 35-7 as Bryce Riehl put down a fastbreak dunk following a steal to grow their lead to 45-26 with just 13:04 left to play.
• As the scoring run came to an end for CSU Pueblo, the deep ball began to fall for Black Hills State, as the Yellow Jackets hit four of their five second half 3-pointers in a three and a half minute stretch halfway through the half as they outscored the ThunderWolves 12-7 during that time span. Woodruff connected on a pair from beyond the arc during the run, while Hackley and Lowe each hit one, as the deficit was cut to 14 points (52-38) with 9:17 remaining in the game.
• The comeback effort for the Yellow Jackets was never able to get the deficit down to less than 14 points late in the half, as Hurdle made a pair of layups on back-to-back possessions. The Pack, however, rattled off seven unanswered points as a layup by Riehl gave them their largest lead of the game at 66-45 with just 2:33 left to play.
• After CSUP gained the largest lead of the game, BHSU closed the game with eight of the final 13 points, as Hackley capped the scoring for the Green & Gold with a straightaway 3-pointer with 1:23 to play and Sam Howery split a pair of free throws for CSU Pueblo with 11.6 seconds left on the clock to bring the final score to 71-53.

BLACK HILLS STATE STATISTICAL LEADERS
Cam Lowe: 13 points, 4-of-14 field goals, 2-of-8 3-pointers, 3-of-3 free throws, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal
BJ Woodruff: 11 points, 4-of-9 field goals, 3-of-8 3-pointers, 5 rebounds
Jaeton Hackley: 9 points, 3-of-13 field goals, 2-of-3 3-pointers, 1-of-2 free throws, 5 rebounds, 5 assists
 
UP NEXT
A stretch of five road match-ups in six games comes to a close on Saturday, February 7, as Black Hills State meets UCCS for the second time this year at 3 p.m. in the Gallogly Events Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The game will be available streaming live on the RMAC Network and on KDSJ Radio.
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