SPEARFISH, S.D. – Black Hills State men’s basketball moved past 6-seeded Westminster, 80-69, Tuesday night to advance to the semifinal round of the RMAC Tournament.
The Yellow Jackets (25-4, 18-4 RMAC) shot 56.6 percent from the floor on the night, and 51.9 percent from beyond the arc.
Joel Scott finished with a game-high 23 points with nine rebounds, two steals and a block.
Ryker Cisarik scored 15, going 6-of-8 from the field and connecting on 3-of-4 from deep while also grabbing five boards.
Sindou Cisse led the team, dishing out eight assists and grabbing two steals while scoring seven.
PJ Hayes hit four threes to finish with 12 points and Ragsdale scored nine.
An early 5-0 spurt from the Yellow Jackets gave them a 7-5 lead two minutes in the game, but Westminster went ahead from there, taking an 11-7 lead.
A Ragsdale triple and a Cisarik dunk would put BHSU back on top 12-11 before both teams began trading buckets. As time ticked under the midway point, back-and-forth play continued and WC would hold a 22-16 lead with 7:53 left in the first.
Threes from Scott and Cisse evened things up at 26-all before another Scott trey put the Yellow Jackets back on top, 29-26, with under five to go before halftime.
A Ragsdale three, and layups from Hackley and Cisarik before the break, sent the men to the locker room with a 36-30 advantage.
Out of halftime, Westminster crept back to within three, 43-40, five minutes into the second half before three straight Cisarik threes gave BHSU its first 10-point lead, 54-44, with 12 minutes to go. Fisher made it four-straight threes for the Yellow Jackets on the following possession, pushing the lead to 57-44.
BHSU would lead by as many as 15 after a Cisarik layup made it 59-44 midway through the second. Threes from Scott and Hayes helped the Yellow Jackets hold onto their 15-point advantage as the game became 69-54 with 7:15 remaining.
Another Hayes trey at 5:46 gave BHSU its largest lead of the game, 72-56. A 10-2 Griffins run in the final minutes brought them back to within seven, 76-69, but the Yellow Jackets would make four from the charity stripe to seal the 80-69 win.
The Yellow Jackets advance to the semifinals of the RMAC Tournament for the third straight year, and will now head to Grand Junction, Colo. for the remainder of the tournament where they will now play No. 2 seed Fort Lewis on Friday, March 3.
Meanwhile,
Black Hills State women’s basketball hosted a quarterfinal matchup against Metro State Denver on Tuesday night. In another tough defensive battle between these two teams, MSUD hung in long enough to slip by the Yellow Jackets to secure a 56-50 victory to advance to the semifinals.
The Yellow Jackets held solid defense against the Roadrunners, tallying up six blocks, seven steals, and 27 defensive rebounds on the night while MSUD recorded one block and eight steals. Both teams had 15 turnovers on the night.
The Roadrunners won the game from inside the paint and thanks to support from their bench as the visitors tallied 22 and 29 points in each category. The Yellow Jackets kept it close thanks to hot three-point shooting early combined with a 16-11 difference in points off turnovers.
Danica Kocer, Morgan Hammerbeck, and Megan Engesser each made two three-point shots throughout the game, with Kocer and Hammerbeck leading BHSU with 15 points and 10 points, respectively. Kocer finished 4-of-8 from the floor and was 2-of-3 from beyond the arch while Hammerbeck was 4-of-9 overall and 2-of-6 from three-point land.
