Round one of the South Dakota basketball showdown went to South Dakota State Saturday in Vermillion. South Dakota State senior Brayden Carson reached the 1,000 point milestone, Jordan Dykstra posted his sixth double-double of the season and the Jackrabbits held off a late South Dakota rally to secure a 70-68 win on Saturday in front of 5,036 fans at the DakotaDome.
“We won two road games this weekend and we out-rebounded our opponents by 24 and gave up four offensive rebounds, so that’s how hard it is to win a road game, but we were the more physical team this weekend,” head coach Scott Nagy said. “I’m saying for us, we were more physical than we’ve been, and how that translates for us is that we’re playing harder, and that’s just what we need to do. It’s not about Xs and Os, it’s more about us playing with energy and passion and I thought we did that this weekend.”
The Jackrabbits, who improve to 12-10 overall and to 4-3 in The Summit League, led by as many as seven points at 14-7 midway through the first half, but the Coyotes, who fall to 8-13 overall and to 3-4 in the league, fought back to tie the game at 20-all with 6 minutes, 37 seconds left in the half, and then led by as many as six with just over 90 seconds left in the half, but the Jacks cut the lead to 32-31 at halftime, after Zach Horstman hit a shot as the first half buzzer sounded.
The home team scored first in the second half, but the Jacks responded with a 9-0 run to go back up by six points, and then used a 14-1 run later in the half that ended with the Jacks up 56-41 with 10:30 left in the game.
The Jacks never trailed again, but the Coyotes did cut the lead to as few as two points at 68-66 with 1:10 left on the clock, but Jake Bittle took a charge with 23 seconds left, got a steal after an SDSU miss with six seconds left and then hit the game-clinching free throws that put SDSU up 70-66 with five seconds left.
Carlson, who hit the milestone from the free throw line with 5:51 left in the game, led all players with 22 points, finishing with 1,003 points in his career.
“I’ve been surrounded by great guys; great teammates and great coaches my whole career,” Carlson said about scoring 1,000 career points. “The hard work finally paid off to get to that milestone, but we got two wins this week, that’s what I’m happy about, that’s all that matters.”
“He has put the time in,” Nagy said about Carlson. “He’s not a high flier, he’s a good athlete, I wouldn’t say he’s a great athlete, but he’s worked hard and he’s made himself a really good basketball player.”
In addition to Carlson, Dykstra finished with 16 points and a game-high 11 rebounds, as the Jacks won the battle of the boards 32-22, including an 8-2 edge on the offensive glass, which resulted in 12 second chance points, compared to two for South Dakota.
Both Bittle and Marcus Heemstra scored 10 points in the win.
Casey Kasperbauer led a trio of Coyotes in double figures with 17 points. Trevor Gruis added 16 and Trey Norris 14 in the loss.
