RAPID CITY - The St. Thomas More Cavaliers jumped all over Lead-Deadwood early and held on late in a 62-49 Black Hills Conference win at the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center on Monday night.

"I thought we did a good job for the most part in the first half and really played well in the third quarter," St. Thomas More head coach Dave Hollenbeck said. "I didn't think we did a very good job of rebounding or executing our offense in the fourth quarter, but you have to give Lead-Deadwood a lot of credit for that. They played hard."

The Cavaliers rode some hot shooting from Nate Jacobson in the first half, to take a 29-15 lead into the locker room. Jacobson scored 14 points in the opening half, including four 3-pointers. He finished the game with 23 points and five 3-pointers. Zach Cimburek added 13 points for the Cavs, the only other More player to reach double figures.

While Jacobson found the range, the 'Diggers struggled to find their offense, scoring just 15 points and turning the ball over repeatedly against the Cavaliers' defense.

"We didn't do a very good job of running our offense, but a lot of that has to do with their pressure," Lead-Deadwood head coach Curt Shaw said. "We need to be mentally tougher to deal with the pressure and be able to run the things we want to run."

The win pushed the Cavaliers to 14-0 in the Black Hills Conference, marking the fourth straight season that they have gone through conference play without a loss. The Cavaliers last lost a BHC game in the 2002-03 season. St. Thomas More finished the regular season at 18-2 overall and will play Newell in the first round of the District 16A playoffs on Monday at 7 p.m.

After watching his team get outscored 19-6 in the fourth quarter, More head coach Dave Hollenbeck would like to see some improvement out of his team over the next week of practice.

"We've got a lot to work on," Hollenbeck said. "We're a long, long way from where we need to be."

Tanner Adler provided most of the highlights for the 'Diggers on the night, including a breakaway dunk that made it 58-34 with 6:36 remaining in the game. The dunk spurred Lead-Deadwood to their strong fourth quarter, an effort that Shaw wanted to see with the playoffs beginning next week.

"We need to come out with more energy and play like we did in that fourth quarter," Shaw said. "We need to start the game with that kind of energy."

Lead-Deadwood (11-8, 9-5) will play Belle Fourche in the first round of the District 16A playoffs on Tuesday.

Adler led the Golddiggers with 21 points.