EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Black Hills State men’s basketball toppled the undefeated No. 1 Nova Southeastern, 77-67 Tuesday afternoon to advance to the Final Four.
The Yellow Jackets (26-7, 17-4 RMAC) handed the Sharks their first loss (31-1), out-rebounding them with a season-high 55 rebounds and boasting a 95.5 free throw percentage.
Joel Scott recorded his 21st double-double of the season, finishing with a game-high 25 points and 13 rebounds. He also came up with a pair of blocks on defense.
Adam Moussa finished two assists shy of a triple-double with 11 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists, going a perfect 8-of-8 from the charity stripe for his fifth double-double performance of the season.
Ryker Cisarik hauled in a career-best 11 boards, and scored nine points.
Sindou Cisse totaled 12 points, five rebounds, three assists, and three steals.
Tommy Donovan tallied five rebounds and nine points while PJ Hayes scored six and Sava Dukic scored five.
The Yellow Jackets went back-and-forth with the Sharks to open the game before a Cisse three put BHSU ahead 12-11 at 14:55. That kickstarted a 14-3 run for BHSU highlighted by a Donovan layup, Scott dunk, and Hayes triple to take their largest lead of the first half, 23-14 with 8:57 to go.
NSU worked their way back to within one possession, 23-20 as the clock ticked under seven minutes and teams continued to trade blows. The Sharks were able to answer a Moussa three and Cisse layup minutes later to keep it a three-point game, 30-27.
As the end of the opening half neared, NSU made a pair of layups to go back ahead 31-10. A couple of Scott free throws would put BHSU up 32-31 with three seconds remaining, but a last second jumper by the Sharks gave NSU a 33-32 advantage going into the locker room.
Out of the break a Cisarik slam out put BHSU back on top 34-33, and a three a few seconds later made it 37-36 as back-and-forth play resumed. With 15:54 left in the second, another Cisarik dunk would even the score at 41-41.
A few minutes later with the game tied at 43-43, a Hayes 3-pointer pushed the Yellow Jackets back ahead 46-43 with under 14 to go.
Layups from Cisse and Donovan followed by a Donovan three midway through the second would stretch the BHSU lead to 53-47 before the Sharks put together a pair of layups to pull back to within 53-51.
Yellow Jacket free throws kept the team ahead as the clock neared five minutes, and a Cisse layup made it a 58-53 BHSU lead before a Scott jumper at 4:18 made it a 60-56 ballgame.
Following an NSU possession where they missed on five-straight looks, Cisse hit a three to put the Yellow Jacket lead at 65-59 with 1:54 to play.
That would end up being the straw that broke the camel’s back as the Yellow Jackets went 12-12 from the line from there, including eight from Moussa to seal the upset, 77-67.
Up Next
The Yellow Jackets advance to the Final Four to face defending national champion, No. 5 Northwest Missouri State on Thursday, March 24 at 2 p.m. MT.
