SPEARFISH - Cain Atkinson's sizzling 3-point shooting helped Black Hills State get off to a great start Friday night and his flawless free throw shooting at the end of the game helped preserve the win as BHSU downed Dordt 87-76 in the Perkins Classic.

Atkinson nailed his first six shots of the game, five of them from 3-point range, as he scored 17 of Black Hills' first 26 points to help put the Jackets up 26-12.

The freshman guard then dropped in eight straight free throws in the final 1:40 of the game to allow the Yellow Jackets to hold off a Dordt comeback bid.

Atkinson connected on eight-of-11 field goal attempts and was a perfect 10-for-10 at the line for 31 points.

"Cain took only 11 shots and finished with 31 points. That's pretty efficient," said BHSU coach Paul Sather.

"Cain is a very competitive kid and, even if he misses a couple of 3s, it doesn't shake his confidence. He has a short memory," said Sather.

Black Hills State sank 8-of-12 shots from behind the arc in the opening half and 11-of-20 for the game while Dordt netted just 3-for-12 from 3-point land.

Black Hills' accuracy from long-range gave the Jackets a 45-31 halftime advantage.

The Yellow Jackets led virtually the entire game but Black Hills had to hang on down the stretch against Dordt's rugged, full-court pressure defense.

Russ Griese's trey brought Dordt as close as seven points, 81-74, with 1:24 on the clock before Atkinson's free throw shooting put the game away.

"I was proud of our kids. They did the things they needed to do to hold Dordt off during the final five minutes," Sather said.

The Donald E. Young Center is an appropriately named home of the Yellow Jackets who started four freshmen.

But it was a first-year player who came off the bench who make a huge contribution.

With A.J. Fodness sidelined because of a bout with mononucleosis, 6-7 Luke Enos stepped up and had a break-through game. Enos scored 15 points and grabbed 13 rebounds (by far his best statistics of the season) and, along with Whitewood freshman Will John Johnson, gave Black Hills an inside presence against the big and physical Dordt team.

"Luke is very athletic and he made some good moves when he was isolated in the post,"

Sather said. "We've been trying to get Luke to attack the basket and not settle for turn-around jump shots and he did that tonight. He got to the free throw line seven times."

BHSU outboarded Dordt by a wide 39-to-26 margin.

"I was surprised because Dordt has been outrebounding their opponents by 11 per game," Sather pointed out.

Freshman Clay Pottorff got his first start and tossed in 13 points including key back-to-back 3-point buckets early in the second half when Dordt was making a run.

Johnson added 9 points and 7 rebounds.

Sather said seniors Forrest Dorr and Corey Doolan, and junior Randy Herman also made major contributions to the victory. Another senior, Parfait Nayigihugu, saw his first action since an injury in game four, playing briefly in the first half.

Brian Eekhoff, a bulky, 6-6 senior post player, led Dordt with 18 points. Michael Eekhoff, added 11 points.

Black Hills shot 55 percent from the field. The only negative stat for the Jackets was 24 turnovers.

Black Hills (7-6) will play Montana State-Northern at 6 p.m. Saturday preceded by the Dordt vs South Dakota Mines game at 4 p.m. Dordt is now 8-6.