SPEARFISH - Dakota Wesleyan University completed a two-game road sweep over West River foes, rallying for an 85-80 win over Black Hills State on Sunday afternoon at the Young Center.

"It was a great way to start the year," said DWU coach John Hemenway. "I don't know the last time we swept games at Black Hills and Mines."

Coach Hemenway noted the Tigers lost seven players that accounted for 70 percent of the scoring off last year's national tournament team. Newcomer Colby Fitzgerald, a junior transfer from University of South Dakota, tallied a game-high 24 points. Joining Fitzgerald in double-figure point production were Preston Broughton with 21 and Marcus Vontz and Andrew Lasche' with 11 points each.

Randy Herman paced a trio of Yellow Jackets in double digit scoring with 19 points. Freshmen Cain Atkinson and Will John Johnson chipped in 12 and 11 points, respectively.

Five consecutive made charity shots by Chad Walder erased a 63-61 deficit and handed the Tigers the permanent lead with 7:05 left in the game. DWU converted 27-of-32 at foul stripe in the contest, including a perfect 12-of-12 by Fitzgerald.

Weselyan held a 36-23 advantage in the opening half. BHSU netted the final 13 points of the half, knotting the halftime score at 36-36.

"We had a heart-to-heart talk at halftime," said Hemenway. "We kept plugging away in the second half. I was proud of the way my kids fought back.

"We're not real big. We knew it was going to be physical game. Black Hills is a good team."

"We need to be a better defensive team and not let teams shoot over 50 percent," said BHSU coach Paul Sather. The Tigers connected on 50 percent of their shot attempts in the game.

"It's not their (BH players) fault. It's my fault. We made some careless mistakes when we had the five-point (63-58) lead. It led to easy baskets for them.

"We're getting some good efforts off the bench. We had some good looks, but didn't shoot well on our 3-pointers." BHSU was 7-of-27 from beyond the 3-point arc, a frigid 26 percent.

"We were out-rebounded by eight in the second half," said Sather. "Maybe we need to try a different lineup. If we have good defense, it will help our offense more.

"There were moments this weekend where we were good on both ends of the floor."

BHSU, suffering its first loss of the season, dropped to 2-1 overall.

The Jackets continue their swing of playing against Great Plains Athletic Conference teams, visiting NAIA Division II 25th-rated Morningside College on Friday in Sioux City, Iowa. BHSU plays Northern

State in an exhibition game on Saturday in Aberdeen.

"There's a lot of room for us to grow, improve and get better," said Sather.

DWU, 2-0 overall, hosts Valley City State in the Tigers' home opener on Friday in the Corn Palace.