LUBBOCK, Texas – Black Hills State men’s basketball defeated Dallas Baptist, 76-68 Saturday afternoon to advance to the next round in the 2022 NCAA DII Tournament.
After being down by as many as 13 points in the first half, the Yellow Jackets (23-7, 17-4 RMAC) stormed back to outshoot the Patriots in the second half, and outscore them 49-39.
“Credit to our guys for a tougher second half, they kind of found some open areas and our transitions looked better,” said Head Coach Ryan Thompson. “Defensively I thought our effort was pretty consistent, allowing us to stay in the game offensively.”
Joel Scott led all scorers with 25 points and nine rebounds, going 7-of-12 from the field and 10-13 from the charity stripe.
Tommy Donovan finished with 15 points, going 4-of-6 from the field and 5-of-6 from the free throw line.
Sindou Cisse scored 12 points while grabbing four rebounds and dishing out four assists.
PJ Hayes went 3-of-5 from deep and finished with 11 points and four rebounds.
BHSU got out to an early 6-3 lead on 3-pointers from Dukic and Scott to open the game. But DBU would answer, eventually leading by as much as 22-9 midway through the first half.
The Yellow Jacket offense started to pick up from there with a Donovan three, while taking advantage of some DBU fouls. Layups from Scott and Hayes would bring BHSU to within six, 27-21, with under three minutes remaining in the half.
BHSU rolled into halftime, using a 12-2 run capped by a pair of Moussa threes in the final minute of the half to head into the locker room trailing by only two, 29-27.
Both teams started slow out of the break, trading possessions before a Donovan layup and Hayes triple tied the game up at 36-36.
A few minutes later, a Donovan layup and Cisse dunk gave the Yellow Jackets their largest lead of the game, 44-40 with 11:13 remaining.
The Yellow Jackets played add-on from there, moving ahead 49-42 on a Scott dunk, and then taking their first double-digit lead on a three from Hayes to make it 52-42 with 9:14 to play.
Back-and-forth play commenced from there, as BHSU essentially went point-for-point with DBU. A Scott layup at 7:03 made it 55-47 before a Hayes three moved the score to 60-52 with 5:27 to go.
Threes from Moussa and Donovan then made it 69-61 as the game entered its final two minutes of play, and the Patriots began fouling.
BHSU would go on to sink 7-of-8 free throws between Cisse, Donovan, Scott down the stretch to seal the 76-68 victory.
