SPEARFISH - The Black Hills State men's basketball team extended its winning streak to eight games, tallying a 67-53 win over Grace College in a non-conference game on Monday evening at the Young Center.

Eleven players reached the scoring column in the win for the Yellow Jackets. A.J. Fodness led the way with 10 points, followed by nine by Clay Potorff, eight each by Spencer Childress and Luke Enos and seven apiece by Will John Johnson, Cain Atkinson and Keighton Hatten.

"We played a lot of guys," said BHSU coach Paul Sather. "Keighton did a nice job when he was in there."

Jonathan Loutzenheiser paced all scorers with a game-high 18 points for the Royals from Omaha, Neb. Jason Eccleston poured in 11 points. Grace College suited up only eight players for the game.

In spite of holding a decided height advantage, BHSU was out-rebounded 41-34 by the Royals.

"A team much smaller than us out-rebounds us by seven," said Sather. "We didn't block out well. We gave them way too many shot opportunities."

A basket by Enos snapped a 14-14 tie and handed the Jackets the lead for good. BHSU took a 31-21 halftime edge.

Back-to-back 3-pointers by Childress opened up a 54-33 lead in the second half.

BHSU, rated No. 7 in the NAIA poll, improved to 10-1 overall. Grace College, dropping its second game on a road trip to South Dakota, slipped to 4-9 overall.

"I don't know what to attribute our sluggish play," said Sather. "There are a lot of distractions this time of year with finals week and Christmas break. We got caught up looking at teams' records.

"We took care of the ball okay. Our movement was pretty good."

BHSU hosts Shorter (Ga.) College at 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 29 in the Perkins Classic. South Dakota Mines faces Johnson and Wales, Colo., at 5:30 p.m. on Dec. 29 in the first game of the Perkins Classic.