PUEBLO, Colo. – Black Hills State men’s basketball won the game in the final seconds for the second time this season, this time seeing Ryder Kirsch play hero as he sank a layup before the clock expired to give the Yellow Jackets the 77-75 victory.
BHSU (9-5, 9-5 RMAC) overcame a 12-point deficit late in the second half to walk away with its sixth straight victory Tuesday night.
Joel Scott led on the scoring front with 27 points, making 10 from the field to go along with six rebounds.
Adam Moussa continued his success from beyond the arc this season as he shot a career-best 5-of-8 from three, scoring 16 on the night while dishing three assists.
Sindou Cisse also tallied 16 points to go with six rebounds, a block and a steal.
Kirsch grabbed a career-best 11 boards while going 3-of-4 from the field, scoring six points.
The Yellow Jackets opened the scoring on a Cisse layup, starting strong as they built a lead from there. Moussa made a 3-pointer to push the lead to 9-4, and then three minutes later, sank back-to-back threes to give BHSU its largest lead of the half, 18-10.
CSU Pueblo began to inch back, drawing even at 27-all before taking its first lead of the game on a pair of free throws to go up 29-27. BHSU took back the lead when Trey Whitley hit a 3-pointer to go up 32-31 with 3:33 left in the half, but it would eventually be the Thunderwolves who would hold the advantage going into halftime, 38-36.
Out of the break, the Yellow Jackets worked to tie things back up at 45-all on a pair of Scott layups, but CSU Pueblo charged back from there to move ahead 60-50 midway through the second half. The Thunderwolves extended their lead to as many as 12 points before BHSU used an 8-0 scoring run, carried by a trio of Scott layups, to cut the CSU Pueblo lead to 68-64 with under five minutes to play.
The Yellow Jackets continued to chip away until Moussa’s fourth 3-pointer of the game put them back on top, 71-70 with 1:20 to go. A few plays later, Moussa hit another trey and then sank a free throw to move BHSU ahead 75-72, but Pueblo answered with a three of its own to bring the game to its seventh tie of the game at 75-75 with under a minute to go.
In the final seconds, Kirsch cleaned up the glass on a missed jumper and made the game-winning put-back to seal the game for the Green and Gold, 77-75.
