Jackets move on to Sweet 16

With the Yellow Jackets 0-3 against Fort Lewis College this season, the Black Hills State University men’s basketball team needed to get over the hump or else Sunday night in the semifinal game of the NCAA Division II South Central Regional Championships at First United Bank Center in Canyon, Texas

The Jackets are now on a one-game winning streak against the Skyhawks and that is what counts the most after the 81-66 win.

The Jackets will now face West Texas A&M in the regional title game Tuesday night at 6 p.m. MT. West Texas A&M downed Angelo State 69-59 in the other semifinal game.

From left, Joel Scott, Ryan Thompson and Sindu Cisse

BHSU head coach Ryan Thompson and his team showed the experience and toughness that took them to the Final Four last season, and led for much of the game, turning an eight-point halftime lead into a 15-point victory.

The Jackets are now two wins away from being one of final four teams of all of Division II.

Thompson said in the tournament news conference after the game that he was proud of the way his team performed against a talented FLC.

“We played exceptionally well. Fort Lewis is a great team. They are well coached, they have a ton of talent and they are playing with a tremendous amount of confidence, and they have caused us trouble thought the year,” he said. “For us to get over that hump tonight in the NCAA Tournament, it took a lot of guts.”

In the three previous wins over the Yellow Jackets, the Skyhawks had averaged 82.3 points a game offensively. Not Sunday night as BHSU senior guard Sindou Cisse held FLC’s leading scorer, Akuel Kot (24.3 ppg.), to just 14 points on 4-of-10 shooting from the field. As a team, FLC shot 43.6% (24-of-55) and just 15.4% from 3 (2-of-13).

Cisse, who finished with 14 points, three assists and one block, said after a lot of preparation, he knew defensively he would have a little help, so that made him confident going into Sunday’s matchup. Kot had scored 32 points in the last game against BHSU.

“There was a lot of film. I watched that last game maybe four or five times to make sure I had all of the little details down,” Cisse said. “My team was always in help so I knew if I got beat they would be there for me today.”

Senior Joel Scott, the RMAC and South Central Region Player of the Year, was every bit of that as led all scorers with 23 points, while grabbing 19 rebounds.

He too credited his team for the Jackets performance, more so than himself.

“We just stuck to the game-plan and let the game come to us,” he said. “We knew it would be a physical battle, it has been every time we played them this year.”

In the last two matchups with the Skyhawks, Black Hills State lost leads in the second half. Up by as much as 15 in the second half, Fort Lewis did battle back to cut the lead to as little as six points, but a 7-0 run by BH got the Jackets back out in a comfortable position and they held strong the rest of the way.

Thompson said it wasn’t anything special, it was just their mental will to win, and of course, getting stops and rebounds and hitting shots down the stretch.

“Fort Lewis is a tough matchup with the guards and they have two of the more physical bigs that we have seen (6-foot-9 Brenden Boatwright and 6-9 Brendan La Rose) ,” he said. “As expected in tournaments, they are going to let them play. We played through a lot of physical contact and finished with some big shots in the game.”

There was just one lead change – 5-4 BH on a Scott 3-pointer just over two minutes into the game. After a pair of Ryker Cisarik jumpers, a Cisse 3-point play and a PJ Hayes 3-pointer, the Yellow Jackets used an 11-4 spurt to extend a 28-17 lead with less than eight minutes to play in the first half. After the Skyhawks scored a pair of unanswered shots, a technical foul on the FLC bench resulted in a pair of Matthew Ragsdale free throws to make it 33-21 with just over five remaining. In the closing minutes of the first half, a Jaeton Hackley 3-pointer and Cisarik 2-pointer helped the Yellow Jackets take a 40-32 lead into the locker room at halftime. Black Hills State used an 8-0 early in the second half capped by a Hackley 3-point play to give BHSU its largest lead of the game, 50-35 with 16:26 on the clock. Minutes later, a FLC 7-point spurt pulled the Skyhawks within eight at 55-47. A Cisse 3 and Scott three-point play capped a 10-1 scoring run, extending the lead back to 15, 71-56 with under-five to play. FLC inched back to within 10 once more, 73-63, but was forced to foul. After some earlier struggles from the line, BHSU went 6-of-8 from the charity stripe down the stretch to secure the victory.

Ragsdale and Hackley each finished with 13 points, while Hackley added three steals on defense. FHayes also scored in double figures with 10 points, with three steals on defense.

As a team, BHSU shot 47.5% from the field (28-of-59) and hit 8-of-25 3-pointers (32%). The Jackets also out-rebounded Fort Lewis 42-32, with 10 offensive boards.

JaQuaylon Mays led Fort Lewis, the RMAC regular-season and tournament champion, with 17 points. Kot and Brenden Boatwright added 14 points for the Skyhawks, who finished the season at 29-4.

Scott said it is a special experience to advance to the Sweet 16, but he said they have a game Tuesday night and they look to go as far into the playoffs as possible.

“We have to enjoy it while we can, but we have to get back to the drawing board and get ready to go Tuesday,” he said.

While he knows the Jackets will have to continue to play their best game Tuesday night, Thompson said his team will be ready.

“We have some guys who are playing with some toughness and they are playing on a mission,” Thompson said.