SPEARFISH, S.D. – The Black Hills State University men's basketball team returned to the win column on Saturday afternoon in A2 Arena as the Yellow Jackets downed Western Colorado by a score of 87-64. After taking a two point lead into the halftime break with a buzzer beating layup by Jack Haggett, the Green & Gold saw five players make their way into double figures and Joel Speckman secured just his second career double-double in a second half route of the Mountaineers which saw them out-score the guests by 21 in the final 20 minutes of action.
 
QUICK DETAILS
Score: Black Hills State 87, Western Colorado 64
Team Records: Black Hills State 10-8 (6-4 RMAC), Western Colorado 6-11 (4-6 RMAC)
Attendance: 1,841
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Black Hills State opened up the scoring in the contest on the first possession of the game as Cam Lowe capitalized on a second chance opportunity created by Jaeton Hackley's offensive rebound and sank a pull-up jump off a screen from Jack Haggett just above the free throw line.
• A mini 7-2 scoring run for Western Colorado gave the Mountaineers the early 7-5 advantage following a jumper in the paint by Amar Rivers, but Joel Speckman added another second chance basket on a turnaround move in the post for the Yellow Jackets to even the game at seven apiece with 15:22 left in the first half. The basket by Speckman sparked an 8-2 response for the Green & Gold as Lowe dribbled into the paint and sank a fadeaway jumper from the free throw line to make it a 13-9 game in favor of BHSU.
• Black Hills State started to find their stride and opened up a seven point lead, the largest of the first half, as Blake Volmer made a left-wing 3-pointer off an assist from BJ Woodruff to make it a 20-13 game at the 11:15 mark. Western Colorado, however, battled back from the early deficit with an 8-3 scoring run that was capped by a hook shot by Andrew Reichart to bring the Mountaineers back within two (23-21) and forced the Green & Gold to burn a timeout with 7:20 left on the clock.
• The Yellow Jackets matched their largest lead of the opening half a few minutes later as they responded with a 7-2 run, which saw Woodruff knock down his second 3-pointer of the match-up from the left-wing, making it a 30-23 game with 5:32 left on the clock. Once again though, WCU kept within striking distance as they reclaimed the lead with a 9-1 scoring to make it a 32-31 game with a pair of Kade Juelfs free throws with 2:52 to play in the half.
• The one point advantage was the final lead of the game for the Mountaineers as Hurdle began to heat up down the stretch, connecting on back-to-back 3-pointers off assists from Woodruff and Hackley, to give BHSU the lead 37-34 as the clock ticked down to just 2:05 remaining. A Juelfs 3-pointer from the left-wing evened the game at 37 apiece, however, a steal by Speckman led to an assist from Hackley to Jack Haggett as he added a left-handed fastbreak layup to beat the buzzer and give the Yellow Jackets a 39-37 advantage entering the second half.
• By the time the under 16 media timeout rolled around, Black Hills State pushed their lead back to seven points as Lowe found Haggett just off the left-elbow to make it a 49-42 game with 16:26 to play in the game. The lead continued to grow to double figures as Speckman added a turnaround hook shot in the paint to make it a 52-42 game with 15:04 on the clock, and then the run reached its peak at 25-7 as the Yellow Jackets made 10-of-15 from the field during a stretch of just over eight minutes, pushing the margin to 21 points (68-47) as a Hackley pull-up jumper from the left elbow forced a Western Colorado timeout.
• One final 9-3 Mountaineer rally momentarily trimmed the Yellow Jacket lead down to 15 points (71-56) with 7:02 to play, however, Black Hills State closed the final five minutes of the game on a 16-8 run in which they shot the ball 6-of-8 from the field to push the final margin to 23 points (87-64). In the final stretch the Yellow Jackets saw a pair of 3-pointers go down for Hackley and Haggett as well as a pair of thunderous dunks by Haggett and John Shanklin. 

BLACK HILLS STATE STATISTICAL LEADERS
Jack Haggett: 16 points, 6-of-7 field goals, 5 rebounds
Jaeton Hackley: 15 points, 7-of-13 field goals, 4 assists, 1 rebound, 1 steal
Cam Lowe: 13 points, 2 3-pointers, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal
Tristan Hurdle: 12 points, 2 3-pointers, 2 rebounds
Joel Speckman: 10 points, 4-of-5 field goals, 10 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 blocks, 3 steals
 
UP NEXT
Black Hills State will have a standalone road game next week before returning to Spearfish as they are set to visit Chadron State for a 7 p.m. tip-off on Thursday, January 30, in the Chicoine Center in Chadron, Nebraska.
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