South Dakota State completed a near double-digit comeback in the second half and rallied to earn a 66-62 victory over St. Bonaventure on Tuesday, Nov. 15, in front over 3,000 fans at the Sanford Pentagon.
The Jackrabbits opened the contest with two separate eight-point advantages in the first half, but the Bonnies jumped out to a four-point lead before a Luke Appel bank shot off glass at the buzzer cut the SDSU deficit to 32-30 at halftime.
St. Bonaventure bursted out of the locker room for the second half with some momentum. The Bonnies went on a seven-point scoring run in the first four minutes out of the break. A Matt Mims 3-pointer at the 15 minute, 24-second mark made it a 39-33 contest.
The Bonnies led 53-47 with just over six minutes to play. That’s when the Jacks made their game-winning run.
SDSU went on a 12-point scoring spree in just over two minutes of time thanks to three Matt Dentlinger field goals, a pair of Tanner Te Slaa free throws, an Alex Arians fastbreak layup and a William Kyle III layup.
The second half run was spurred by a game-high four steals by Charlie Easley as well as a set of blocks by Dentlinger.
“I think defensively as a connected unit, we’re playing really well,” SDSU head coach Eric Henderson said. “There’s a lot of different ways to win. We’ve had dynamic offenses the last couple years to look back on, but we just didn’t have that tonight. (St. Bonaventure) did a good job of mixing it up. At the end of the day, we have to start taking care of the ball a little better. That’s on me.
“We can be pretty dynamic offensively. We’ve shown that. We need to be prepared for zone or prepared for press, they try to get us off our rhythm. But they played a big part of that.”
Notes
• South Dakota State improved to 2-1 overall with the victory over St. Bonaventure. The Bonnies dropped to 1-2 in the two sides’ first ever all-time meeting.
• Matt Dentlinger was SDSU’s leading scorer for the third consecutive game with 16 points. Zeke Mayo corralled a career- and team-high 13 rebounds. He also had an SDSU-high five assists.
• The Jackrabbits outshot the Bonnies 43-38%, holding St. Bonaventure to a 35% clip in the second half.
Up Next
South Dakota State travels to Fayetteville, Arkansas, to face the No. 9/10 Razorbacks. The Jackrabbits take on Arkansas on Wednesday with tipoff scheduled for 7 p.m. at Bud Walton Arena. Pregame at 6:30 on 570 WNAX and the Jackrabbit Sports Network.
