LAKEWOOD, Colo. – Facing a hot shooting Colorado Christian (8-12, 4-10 RMAC) squad on their home floor, the Black Hills State University men’s basketball team (10-10, 8-6 RMAC) weathered the storm with a 79-73 comeback victory Saturday night inside the CCU Event Center, erasing a seven-point halftime deficit to record their 10th win of the season.
The Yellow Jackets hit 12 3-pointers in the victory, shooting at a clip of 48.0% from behind the arc.
Colorado Christian shot a blistering 85.7% (6-for-7) at the first media time out, but the Yellow Jackets were right in it, as it was knotted up at 12-12 with 14 minutes to play by the time the first break in the action came about. Black Hills State was able to ride the hot shooting start from CCU thanks to a pair of 3-pointers from Hoku Fisher (So., Wilmington, N.C.) and Matthew Ragsdale (Gr., Colorado Springs, Colo.).
Out of the break, the Cougars hit their first 3-pointers as they opened a five-point, 17-12 advantage on their home floor. Not to be outdone, the next offensive possession for the Yellow Jackets saw Fisher knock down his second 3-pointer of the game. Down four after the second media time out of the game, Deegan Williams (So., Gillette, Wyo.) hit a 3-pointer for his first points of the contest.
The Cougars continued to shoot at a high percentage as they would lead 25-18. Fisher would keep the Yellow Jackets in the game, hitting another 3-pointer and Ragsdale would pull BH to within one at 29-28. At the final media break of the first half, the Cougars held a three-point lead with 3:46 to play.
Black Hills State made six 3-pointers in the first half, shooting 42.9% from deep. Fisher led the team with his 11 first half points, shooting 3-for-5 from behind the arc. Joel Speckman (Fr., Parker Colo.) grabbed six rebounds with four of them being on the offensive end of the floor.
The Yellow Jackets opened the second half on a 5-0 run to make it a two-point deficit, but it didn’t take long for Colorado Christian to go back up seven, 43-36 with not even two minutes gone by in the half. The Cougars continued to use hot shooting in their home gym as a Nic Zeil 3-pointer put them back up double digits.
Ragsdale got hot, scoring the next five points out of the media time out, as it pulled BH back into striking distance. Back-to-back buckets from Caelin Hearne (Jr., Norman, Okla.) kept BHSU with the ability to pull closer, as the duo put the Jackets on a 9-2 run. Later, another 3-pointer from Fisher made it 56-55 CCU at the midway mark of the second half as the seven-point halftime deficit had been trimmed to just one.
Colorado Christian again responded with a run of their own, scoring the next seven points to open a 63-55 advantage. Ragsdale was able to stem the run with a lay-up of his own. Back to within four points at the under-eight time out, the Yellow Jackets again used the three ball to pull within one, this one from Hearne.
Hearne would then give BH the lead again with a jumper and the race was on. The two sides would go back and forth and three Yellow Jackets sat in double-digit scoring. The 3-pointer continued to be the key for the Yellow Jackets as Ragsdale hit the team’s 12th deep ball of the game to break a tie, giving BH the 72-69 lead.
Black Hills State hit five or their last six field goals to end the game, storming back to take the 79-73 road victory over Colorado Christian.
Meanwhile,
LAKEWOOD, Colo. – The Black Hills State University women’s basketball team (12-6, 9-5 RMAC) traveled to the suburbs of Denver to battle the Cougars of Colorado Christian University (11-9, 7-7 RMAC).
Despite 20 points from Raven Cournoyer and a career-high nine points from Karissa Smith, it was the Cougars who defended their home floor with a 75-62 victory Saturday evening.
