COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – It wasn't until the second half of Saturday afternoon's RMAC match-up that the No. 13 Black Hills State University men's basketball team took the lead, but when they did, they never looked back as they cruised to a 112-81 win for the season sweep of UCCS. The Yellow Jackets, who trailed by three at the halftime break, went on to outscore the Mountain Lions 66-32 in the final 20 minutes of action as not only the offense continued its hot shooting, but the defense locked down UCCS. The BHSU defense held UCCS to 47.8 percent (11-23) from the field in the second half after they shot 57.6 percent (19-33) from the field in the first half, while also holding Marzouq Ibn Abdur-Razaaq to just five points in the final 20 minutes after scoring 21 in the opening half. Offensively, it was the second-most points in program history (most in the NCAA Division II era) and it was the best shooting performance in school history for the Green & Gold as they shot a 66.7 percent clip from the field as they connected on 42-of-63 attempts. Additionally, the 42 made field goals mark the most all-time in BHSU history. Leading the way for BHSU was
Cam Lowe with his 11
th 20-point game of the year as he was one of five Yellow Jackets to score 15 or more in the victory.
QUICK DETAILS
Score: No. 13 Black Hills State 112, UCCS 81
Team Records: No. 13 Black Hills State 18-4 (11-3 RMAC), UCCS 12-10 (7-7 RMAC)
Attendance: 132
HOW IT HAPPENED
- UCCS grabbed the lead on the opening possession of the game with a driving left-handed layup by Brody Hull to make it 2-0 just 17 seconds into the contest. Black Hills State would tie the game twice at two and four points apiece respectively with a driving right-handed layup by Jaeton Hackley and a layup from the left-block by Jackson Seale in the opening minutes, however, the Mountain Lions would lead from that point on the remainder of the first half.
- Beginning with Hull and Jezza McKenzie knocking down back-to-back 3-pointers to push their early lead to six points (12-6) with 17:17 to play in the opening half, the Mountain Lions hit each of their first four shot attempts from beyond the arc.
- As the teams continued to go back-and-forth in the opening half, Marzouq Ibn Abdur-Razaaq gave UCCS their largest lead of the game at eight points (34-26) as he made a reverse layup with 6:09 to play. The Mountain Lions would hold an eight point advantage four different times in the late stages of the first half.
- The Yellow Jackets began to rally in the final minute of the first half as Tristan Hurdle connected on a left-wing 3-pointer off a cross court pass from BJ Woodruff with 32 seconds to play, and then Myles Johnson hit a pair of free throws to make it 49-46 after drawing an intentional foul on a fastbreak following a Woodruff steal in the final seconds of the half.
- Joel Speckman made a tough right-handed driving layup through contact and Johnson hit another pair of free throws to trim the deficit to a single point on each of the first two Yellow Jacket possessions of the second half, but it wasn't until Johnson made a layup inside the left-block off a pass inside from Speckman that the Green & Gold took their first lead at 52-51 with 17:20 remaining.
- A quick 7-0 scoring run for the Mountain Lions gave them the lead back and put them in front by four (60-56) as Alexander Hurr hit a fastbreak left-wing 3-pointer with 14:14 remaining in the game.
- Following the Hurr triple, Woodruff responded and gave BHSU the lead for good with back-to-back 3-pointers to make it 62-60 with 13:30 to play. The back-to-back 3-pointers sparked a 16-1 scoring run as the Yellow Jackets took complete control of the contest. BHSU first pushed the lead to double digits as Cam Lowe laid the ball in the hoop off a drive from the left-wing to make it 72-61 with 9:59 to play and forcing a Mountain Lion timeout.
- The lead stretched further and the scoring run grew to 29-4 over a nearly seven minute stretch as Speckman converted an and-one fastbreak opportunity off an assist from Woodruff on a play that began with a steal from Lowe, making it an 85-64 game with 7:02 left on the clock.
- A brief 7-2 scoring run saw UCCS momentarily regroup and cut the BHSU lead down to 16 points (87-71) with a left-wing 3-pointer by Hull off an assist from Gavin Carter with 6:02 to play. Despite the momentary spurt of momentum from UCCS, Black Hills State kept their foot on the gas and put together a 20-4 scoring run over a span of more than four minutes. The run was sparked by five quick points off back-to-back buckets by Hackley to push the lead back above 20 once again as he hit a pull-up triple from the left-wing to make it 92-71 with 5:02 remaining in the game. In the midst of the rally, Lowe sank a turnaround jumper from the left-block to give the Yellow Jackets their second 100-point game of the season to make it 100-73 with 3:02 on the clock.
- As the scoring run continued, a 3-pointer by Lowe from the left-corner and a pull-up right-elbow jumper by Blake Volmer pushed the lead to 32 points (107-75) and cap the 20-4 scoring run with 1:28 to play.
- The second-highest scoring game in Black Hills State history came to a close as Matias Aldana made a driving left-handed transition layup and Volmer hit a left-corner 3-pointer to give the Yellow Jackets their largest lead of the game at 33 points (112-79) with 28.5 seconds to play. The scoring in the contest concluded with Hurr making a right-handed hook shot with 15.2 seconds remaining to make it a 112-81 final score.
- Over the course of the final 14 minutes of game time, the Green & Gold out-scored UCCS 56-21, knocking down 21-of-29 (72.4%) from the field, 8-of-11 (72.7%) from beyond the arc, and 6-of-7 (85.7%) from the charity stripe. During the final stretch of the game the Yellow Jackets also committed just one turnover, compared to seven for the Mountain Lions, which contributed to a 16-0 advantage in points off turnovers during the run.
BLACK HILLS STATE STATISTICAL LEADERS
Cam Lowe: 20 points, 8-of-11 field goals, 4-of-6 3-pointers, 7 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals
Myles Johnson: 19 points, 6-of-8 field goals, 7-of-8 free throws, 3 rebounds
Jaeton Hackley: 16 points, 7-of-9 field goals, 2-of-3 3-pointers, 4 rebounds, 5 assists
BJ Woodruff: 15 points, 4-of-7 field goals, 4-of-5 3-pointers, 3-of-4 free throws, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 steal
Joel Speckman: 15 points, 7-of-11 field goals, 1-of-2 free throws, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 blocks, 1 steal
UP NEXT
No. 13 Black Hills State returns home to A2 Arena next weekend with a match-up against Colorado School of Mines on Thursday, February 12, for a 7 p.m. tip-off. 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).
