NEW TOWN, N.D. -- Heartbreak for the Bismarck State men's basketball team on Friday night, as their 21-point second-half lead was slowly erased by a relentless California Prestige (CPU) team that found a way to nail every clutch shot. The Mystics led by seven with 1:06 remaining, but CPU closed the game on an 11-2 run and took its first lead since the first half on a layup with 10 seconds left.
Alex Proctor and William Ware each scored 16 points and Jah Gulley added 14, but the Mystics (0-3) fell 77-75 on Friday, Nov. 6, in the 4 Bears Casino & Lodge Classic at the 4 Bears Event Center. Jaden Burgess led CPU with 19 points, and Jaden Malone grabbed 12 rebounds and scored the go-ahead layup.
First Half
Ware opened the scoring with a 3-pointer, and an 8-0 BSC run capped by a Ware dunk off a Braylen Schirado assist made it 11-4 at the 17:10 mark. CPU answered and took its largest lead of the game, 23-18, with 9:56 left in the half. Johnathan Hawthorne Jr. scored four straight points to pull BSC within two, and a Proctor dunk gave the Mystics a 24-23 lead at 7:26.
Julien Grant's layup tied the game at 26-26 with 6:29 remaining, and BSC closed the half on an 11-2 run. Moustapha Diomande scored a layup and a free throw, Schirado hit a 3-pointer, and Ware and Gulley added layups to send the Mystics into halftime up 37-28. BSC forced 12 first-half turnovers while committing just six.
Second Half
The Mystics opened the second half on a 7-0 run, getting a Schirado 3-pointer off a Proctor assist, and pushed the lead to 21 at 52-31 with 15:12 left when Tristin Davis scored on a layup off a Schirado assist.
CPU chipped away. A 14-0 run, capped by a Burgess 3-pointer with 7:40 remaining, cut the Mystics' lead to 60-55. Gulley scored seven points over the final four minutes, and a Proctor 3-pointer with 3:05 left made it 68-60. A Gulley free throw after a technical foul put BSC up 73-66 with 1:06 to play.
After a Proctor free throw made it 74-68, Hanson Clark hit a stunning pair of back-to-back 3-pointers in a span of two seconds of game time, the result of a BSC five-second violation, to tie the game at 74-74 with 45 seconds left. Schirado's free throw put BSC up 75-74 with 34 seconds left, but he missed the second, and Malone grabbed the rebound. After Burgess missed a jumper, Malone came up with the offensive rebound and scored on a layup for a 76-75 lead with just over 10 seconds to go. Diomande's jumper rattled out with 4.1 seconds remaining, and CPU's Burgess made a free throw with two seconds left after a Hawthorne foul, and after missing his second, the Mystics never got another chance to even things up.
Mystics Key Performers
California Prestige Key Performers
- Jaden Burgess: 19 points on 7-of-11 shooting, 3 3-pointers
- Jaden Malone: 8 points, 12 rebounds, go-ahead layup
- Nicholas Bell: 11 points, 7 rebounds
- Kelvonte Ellis: 11 points, 3 assists
- Hanson Clark: 9 points off the bench, 3-of-3 from 3-point range
Game Notes
- BSC shot 43.5% (27-of-62) from the field, 33.3% (6-of-18) from 3-point range and 68.2% (15-of-22) at the free-throw line. CPU shot 48.3% (29-of-60) from the field, 50.0% (8-of-16) from 3-point range and 55.0% (11-of-20) at the line, including 6-of-9 from 3-point range in the second half.
- BSC outrebounded CPU 38-32 and held edges in points in the paint (34-24) and second-chance points (16-11). The Mystics committed 23 turnovers to CPU's 26, and BSC scored 27 points off turnovers to CPU's 25.
- The game featured three ties and nine lead changes. BSC's largest lead was 21 points, and CPU's was five.
Up Next
The Mystics close out the New Town Tip-Off Jamboree against Eastern Oregon on Saturday, Nov. 7, at 3:15 p.m. at the 4 Bears Event Center. BSC then opens its home schedule against Dickinson State (N.D.) on Friday, Nov. 20, at 7 p.m. in the Bavendick Center. Tickets are available at BSCMystics.com/Tickets.
JV Notes
The Mystics JV team fell to NJCAA powerhouse Gillette College 133-59 on Friday, Nov. 6, in Miles City, Mont. The JV squad plays Northwest College on Saturday, Nov. 7, at 1 p.m. in Miles City.
See the men's basketball schedule for more information on how to follow and attend the upcoming games.
Be sure to visit BSCMystics.com and download the MysticNation app to continue to stay up to date with everything going on in Mystic Athletics.
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