They were right there.

After erasing all of a 15-point deficit, the Northern State Wolves were tied with 15th-ranked Black Hills State Thursday afternoon. However, NSU managed just one point in seven minutes and eventually dropped a 77-70 non-conference men’s college basketball game at Wachs Arena.

“We were there a lot a lot. I thought we competed. I thought we came back,” said Northern coach Matt Wilber. “I thought we won a lot of possessions, but then the stretch where it was 59-59 we lost them all.”

The Wolves tied the game at 59-59 with 12:21 remaining. However, the hosts scored just one point until less than five minutes were left in the game. By then the Yellow Jackets had opened a 69-60 edge. NSU was still in the game, but never managed to get the margin under five points the rest of the way.

“In that stretch, we got enough stops,” Wilber said, “it just didn’t look like it because our score didn’t move.”

To be sure, Northern’s defense allowed the Wolves to hang around, but there just was not enough scoring to get over the hump.

“It was frustrating, especially because we were playing good defense on them,” said Northern’s Tobi Obiora. “They were not scoring as well, but they were scoring a little bit more than us. It was frustrating to not score during that time.”

During that pivotal stretch, the Wolves were 0-for-9 from the field and had five turnovers.

“It was 59-59 and we talked about it between ourselves, we think we settled a little bit,” said NSU’s Joshua Book, “just kind of having the emphasis of getting downhill, playing physical, especially we had them in the bonus in that time as well, seven fouls, so just kind of getting our hit on the rim, staying aggressive is one definite thing that we can look back and be like hey, we could have done a lot better with that. I think that’s really what it comes down to, just settling a little bit.”

Wilber talked about his teams’ shot selection during that time frame, noting that the majority of the attempts were not in top half of what they were looking for.

“I thought our shots, our offense, went into that stretch, where we were forced into taking some really tough ones, and if they go great, but you’re hoping in that regard,” Wilber said. “When we grade out shots as 1’s, 2’s, 3’s and 4’s, 4’s being the best, we took 5 or 6 2’s in a row, and we didn’t make any of them.”

Meanwhile, the Yellow Jackets did just enough on their end to have just enough of a cushion to stay in control on the way to improving to 11-1 on the season.

“Black Hills State, their record is their record for a good reason and they’re a tough, hard-nose team that they don’t make a lot of mistakes, and you gotta go beat them,” Wilber said. “We had our chances and we just didn’t get there.”

There were plenty of positives for the Wolves despite the setback. One was bouncing back from that double-digit deficit.

Northern trailed 34-19 with 6:49 left in the first half, and then went on a 13-2 run, sparked by Book, who scored on a short jumper, fed Obiora for a conventional three-point play, and then got fouled while making a 3-pointer for a four-point possession.

“We’ve seen it in games. Teams go on a run and it’s kind of how we respond. We put a big emphasis on not giving up and always fighting back,” Book said. “We’re always in the game, just to see the boys kind of have that run and get the game back into a position game was really big.”

In fact, Obiora felt the Wolves could have been ahead at the break instead of down by four points.

“We were not that satisfied, because we had a couple missed block outs, missed rebounds on O-boards, I think we could have done a better job on that,” Obiora said, “so we were happy of course, but we were not satisfied because we could have maybe done more to get a lead coming into the second half.”

Book led the Wolves with 22 points, while Obiora contributed 13 points and eight rebounds.

“I think we’re improving. I think we’re getting better,” Wilber said. “I think Josh Book continues to get better as a point guard and more shots are going in. He’s a tough guard. I think Tobi Obiora keeps getting better for us, but the group has to stay together and keep going.”

James Glenn also had 13 points for the Wolves.

NSU, 4-9 on the season, plays at Jamestown on Saturday. The Wolves will take some confidence away from the BH setback.

“I think losing with only seven points gives us a little bit more confidence, especially against a top 15 nationally ranked team, to really show that we can compete against them,” Obiora said. “If we’re a little bit stronger on the smaller things like box outs, O-boards, we can really win those games. Not just competing, but actually winning those games.”

Wilber feels positive about the direction the Wolves are going heading into the second half of the season.

“I’m not into moral victories, but I’m also into a process of trying to get better,” Wilber said. “I think there’s good in front of this group, and we’ll see what we’ve got, but our schedule is tremendously difficult.”

To see a complete box score, click on the following link:

https://nsuwolves.com/sports/mens-basketball/stats/2025-26/black-hills-state/boxscore/14169