SPEARFISH, S.D. – The Mountain Lions' second half rally falls short in the RMAC Semifinals on Saturday night as UCCS Men's Basketball recovered from an 18-point deficit to come up short to Black Hills State University at a final score of 77-86 in Spearfish, S.D.
INSIDE THE MATCHUP:
Final: UCCS 77, BHSU 86
Records: UCCS (21-9, 15-7 RMAC), BHSU (21-7, 17-4 RMAC)
Location: Donavan E. Young Center | Spearfish, S.D.
Series: Under Head Coach
Jeff Culver, UCCS leads the all-time series 11-10 over the Yellow Jackets.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
• Black Hills State busted the game open with the Mountain Lions struggling to find their rhythm out of the gate as the Yellow Jackets notched a 15-0 lead through the opening five minutes of play that included an 0-of-11 start for UCCS.
• At 14:11, the Mountain Lions put their first points up on the board off the hands of
Jon'il Fugett who made a driving layup in the paint and drew the foul to go on and complete the and-one play for a 3-15 score.
• The Yellow Jackets' hot start carried through the first half as Sindou Cisse grabbed the offensive board and drove down to make a layup and record an and-one play of his own to give what would be BHSU's largest lead of the game at 18-points with 9:14 left in the half, 29-11.
• Searching for some offense, UCCS was able to work their way back into the game by attacking the basket and cutting the deficit down to 10 points at the 5:44 mark by generating six points from the free throw line while netting two jumpers from
Bobby Martin and
Parker Gaddis to make it 21-31.
• But the closing minutes belonged to the Yellow Jackets as a 58 percent field-goal percentage led by 16 total points from Joel Scott and a perfect 4-of-4 from Cisse overshadowed
Alijah Comithier's team-leading 10 first half points, and UCCS' 23.1 field-goal percentage, as the Yellow Jackets carried a 43-29 lead into the locker room.
• Coming out of halftime, the start of the second half belonged to the Mountain Lions who captured their own momentum by picking up a 13-4 run to make it a new game by facing a five-point deficit, 42-47. BHSU's Scott net the first points of the half off a layup but the Mountain Lions' had some answers of their own as Fugett answered with a jumper followed by a caused turnover that turned into a
Geoff Kelly three-pointer to point UCCS in the right direction. The Mountain Lion defense came to life after Fugett hit his first three of the game as Kelly swiped a steal to dish to
Bobby Martin who buried another trey as a second caused UCCS turnover resulted in a Comithier layup to bring the game within five points at the 16:16 mark.
• Just as the Mountain Lions began creep their way back, BHSU found themselves in a double-digit point lead once again with Adam Moussa, Cisse, and Scott tallying 21 of the team's next 23 points to push the Yellow Jackets out to a 16-point lead at 7:54, 70-54.
• UCCS yet to give up as an eight-point Mountain Lion run placed UCCS within eight points after Comithier recorded four points with
Noah Baca and Martin each claiming a basket to make it 62-70.
• With the Mountain Lions clawing their way back, BHSU attempted to keep UCCS at bay but Fugett drained a big three-pointer with 48 second left to play to bring the game within six points, 75-81.
• Having to force BHSU to the free throw line, UCCS' comeback would land short as the Yellow Jackets converted on their final three free throws to help pull off the 86-77 win.
STATS FROM THE DAY:
• The Mountain Lions wrapped up the game shooting 37.5 percent from the field and managed to recover from a first half field-goal percentage of 23.5 percent by shooting 54.55 percent in the second half.
• BHSU outshot UCCS from the field and from three-point range with percentages of 60.0 and 41.2, respectively.
• UCCS crashed the boards and came to out-rebound the Yellow Jackets 40-39 in the contest.
• The Yellow Jackets had two student-athletes record double-doubles with Joel Scott finishing with 34 points and 10 rebounds while Adam Moussa scored 21 and registered 10 rebounds. BHSU's Sindou Cisse added 17 points with Cisse, Scott, and Moussa combining to score 72 of BHSU's points on 30-of-43 shooting from the field.
• UCCS held the advantage in offensive rebounds 15-4 which resulted in 17 second chance points compared to BHSU's four second chance points.
• The Mountain Lions outscored the Yellow Jackets from the bench, 20-9, with
Parker Gaddis (3-of-6) and
Cameron Underwood (4-of-7) notching eight points off the bench.
• Alijah Comithier,
Jon'il Fugett, and
Bobby Martin all scored double-digit points with 21, 20, and 10, respectively.
• Geoff Kelly registered a season high three assists as UCCS held the advantage in team steals 8-4 in the game.
BEYOND THE BOX:
• This season marks just the third time in program history that the Mountain Lions have won 20 or more games, with two of those seasons have come under the direction of head coach
Jeff Culver.
• The Mountain Lions posted the second most team assists (496), rebounds, (1,203), and the third most team blocks (108) in program history this season.
• UCCS made their first RMAC Semifinal appearance and won their first RMAC Tournament game since the 2014-15 season.
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