Yellow Jackets heat up, beat Blue Hawks

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SPEARFISH, S.D. — If the Dickinson State men’s basketball team felt it could rely on one aspect of its game this season, it was its defense.

After a long weekend at the Sam Milanovich Classic, the Blue Hawks’ took Monday night off defensively and paid for it. Black Hills State got its first win of the 2012-13 season, shooting 59 percent from the field to take a 95-80 victory at the Young Center.

“We’ve been focusing on our offense and now our defense is falling to the side,” DSU head coach Ty Orton said.

The first time BHSU played DSU this season, the game was a regular-season matchup for the Blue Hawks but not for the visiting Yellow Jackets, who viewed it as an exhibition.

The roles were reversed Monday as DSU counted this game as an exhibition against their former Dakota Athletic Conference rival who now competes in the NCAA Division II Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.

Joey Mitchell had 22 points, four rebounds and four assists and Tanner Alder had 20 points and four rebounds to lead the Yellow Jackets (1-3), who shot 33 of 56 from the field, making 8 of 14 3-pointers.

Brady Bisgaard had eight points, 10 assists, four rebounds and four steals while committing seven turnovers for BHSU.

DSU used the non-counter game as a way to test its lineups.

John Hanstad led the team in minutes with 21 and scored 10 points. Johnie Sanders and Jarek Hansen each had 11 points to lead the Blue Hawks (2-4). The Blue Hawks were balanced offensively with all but one player scoring.

“We tried some different things tonight,” Orton said. “We’re working on some different things to get us relaxed on the offensive side.”

DSU shot 26 of 58 (45 percent) from the field.

The Blue Hawks visit Oglala Lakota College on Thursday in a game that counts toward their regular-season record.

“We’ve got to fix our defense in the next couple days before we play again,” Orton said. “We did some really good things. They were passing the ball around and we shot 45 percent from the floor. That should be good enough to win a game.”

DICKINSON STATE (2-4): Ty Ackelson 2-4 2-2 8, Robbie Morey 1-3 0-0 2, Phillip Johnson 1-5 3-4 5, Jarek Hansen 4-7 2-2 11, John Hanstad 3-7 3-4 10, Anthony Hodges 2-4 0-0 6, Ryan Sullivan 1-4 3-4 5, Johnie Sanders 3-8 5-6 11, James Hayden 1-1 0-0 3, Brock Boos 0-2 0-0 0, Isiah Thomas 3-5 2-2 8, Tevin Russel 3-6 1-2 7, Timmy Benedict 1-1 0-0 2, Destry Sterkel 1-1 0-2 2. Totals: 26-58 21-28 80.

BLACK HILLS STATE (1-3): Cameron Anderson 3-5 1-1 7, Tanner Adler 9-14 2-2 20, Brady Bisgaard 2-7 4-4 8, Joey Mitchell 6-7 6-6 22, Austin Maag 6-8 1-3 14, Brody Brisk 3-8 1-4 10, Raith Durham 0-0 0-0 0, Mitchell Foth 2-3 0-1 4, Jordan Dolph 0-0 1-2 1, Riley Ryan 0-1 2-3 2, Kevin Hanes 1-1 0-0 2, Ryan Allen 1-2 3-5 5. Totals: 33-56 21-31 95.

Halftime: Score BHSU 48, DSU 32. Total fouls: DSU 23, BHSU 19. 3-point goals: DSU 7-17 (Ackelson 2-2, Hodges 2-4, Hayden 1-1, Hansen 1-2, Hanstad 1-3, Morey 0-1, Sanders 0-1, Boos 0-2, Russel 0-1), BHSU 8-14 (Mitchell 4-5, Brisk 3-5, Maag 1-2, Adler 0-1, Bisgaard 0-1). Rebounds: DSU 25 (Sullivan 4), BHSU 38 (Maag 5). Assists: DSU 14 (Ackelson 4), BHSU 21 (Bisgaard 10). Steals: DSU 11 (three with 3), BHSU 8 (Bisgaard 4). Blocks: DSU 3 (three with 1), BHSU 4 (four with 1). Turnovers: DSU 18 (Russel 3), BHSU 19 (Bisgaard 7).

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