GUNNISON, Colo.  Western Colorado went toe-to-toe with third-ranked and unbeaten Black Hills State University, but the visiting Yellow Jackets were able to fend off the upset-minded Mountaineers in taking a 78-73 men's basketball victory Friday in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference action in Paul Wright Gymnasium.

Unafraid of the sting Black Hills State had been inflicting on others, Western traded the lead 14 times with the Yellow Jackets and put four Mountaineers in double figures, led by Jaelan McCloud's 19 points.

JUST THE FACTS
Final score: Black Hills State def. Western Colorado, 78-73
Records: Western 2-9 (0-7 RMAC), BHSU 13-0 (7-0)
Location: Paul Wright Gym, Gunnison, Colo.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Several times in the game Western had a one- or two-point lead only to have Black Hills State rally with an unanswered scoring string that would lift the Yellow Jackets back in front.
• The BHSU string that stung the most was after Western had rallied to within a point, 63-62, on Jaelan McCloud's jumper. His 12-footer completed a response from Black Hill's 10-0 run minutes earlier. But a Yellow Jacket 9-0 spurt pushed their margin to 10, a deficit that severely damaged the Mountaineers' upset bid.
• They clawed back in the final moments, cutting the gap to six (77-71) on a short jumper from Robel Desta to finish off a fast break, then getting a steal by Kade Juelfs on the inbounds pass – a play on which he was fouled to earn a trip to the stripe.
• Juelfs hit both free throws to close Western to within four, 77-73, but with only 20 seconds remaining in the two-possession final moments, upset hopes would finally be dashed.
• The Mountaineers gave notice early that the difference in team records would mean little in the night, coming back quickly from an opening 5-0 deficit to tie the score at 8-8. The teams traded buckets over the next minutes, with Desta finally giving Western its first lead, 17-16, on a 3-pointer from straight up.
• An 11-0 Yellow Jacket response halted the momentum from Desta's trey and, though Western would close to within five at 36-31, Black Hills would finish off the opening half leading by nine, 42-33.
• Western stormed out of the halftime locker room and began the second half on a 12-2 run to wrest away the lead. But the Yellow Jackets would soon after go on that 10-0 run that Western would eventually fight back from but would ultimately not be quite enough.

MORE TO IT

• Western shot 45 percent from the floor in the opening half, but the halftime deficit was, in part, due to the Yellow Jackets hitting 52% over the same 20 minutes.
• A 10-point difference in points scored from in close in the paint, 36-26, was also a hurdle the Mountaineers had difficulty overcoming.
• Jaelan McCloud's team-high 19 points were split evenly across the two periods, 10 in the first half and 9 in the second.
• Desta was just behind McCloud in the box score, finishing with 18 points, 13 of which came in the second half.
• Both Grant Wilkinson (12 points) and Juelfs (10) also broke into double figures for Western.
• Black Hills State was led by Joel Scott's game-high 22 points, with three other players also cracking the double-digit mark.
• The Mountaineers got the better of the Yellow Jackets on the boards, finishing the night with a 42-38 rebounding advantage, aided by Jaelan McCloud's 10 to give him the double-double. Scott's 14 rebounds were a game high and marked another double-double in the game.

UP NEXT
Western continues RMAC action at home with a Saturday contest against South Dakota Mines, beginning at 7 p.m. in Paul Wright Gym.