South Dakota State trailed by as many as 21 points on Sunday against North Dakota State, but the Jackrabbits fought back to cut that lead to one point with less than a minute to play, only to see the comeback come up short in a 72-69 loss.
The loss drops the Jacks to 9-7 overall and to 0-2 in The Summit League, while the Bison improve to 10-5 overall and to 2-0 in the league.
“It’s was the flat start, that’s what we’ve been struggling with, and like I told the players, I’ve been coaching a long time, but it’s not like I know the answers to those things and how we change them,” head coach Scott Nagy said. “It was just too much to overcome. It wasn’t the offensive end as much as people would like to talk about that, it was the defensive end again, which has been four games in a row for us that’s been a problem.”
The Jackrabbits came out cold, making just one of their first 14 shots, a Reed Tellinghuisen 3-pointer from the wing that snapped a game-opening 9-0 run by the Bison. NDSU started the game 12 for 20 from the floor and pushed its lead to 31-10 on an A.J. Jacobson triple with just under six minutes left in the first half.
SDSU made its last five shots of the half, but NDSU went 3 for 6 over the final minutes of the frame to take a 40-24 lead into halftime.
The SDSU offense stayed hot to start the second half, making its first six and eight of its first nine field goals in the half, and kept plugging away, cutting the lead two as few as two points at 51-49 on a Cody Larson 3-point play with 10:03 on the clock, and eventually to one at 70-69 on a Deondre Parks triple with 44 seconds left.
NDSU got a pair of free throws on its next possession to push the lead back to three points with 15 seconds left, but a Parks 3-pointer with four seconds left hit the back iron and bounced out, and the Bison grabbed the rebound as time expired.
Larson and Parks both finished with a game-high 21 points, with Larson adding eight rebounds and Parks a trio of assists. Tellinghuisen finished the game with eight points.
Kory Brown led four NDSU players in double figures with 17 points. Lawrence Alexander added 16, Dexter Werner 14 and Jacobson 12 points in the win.
It’s season-long seven game road trip in the books, SDSU looks to snap its skid on Wednesday, when the Jackrabbits host Western Illinois in Summit League action at Frost Arena. The Jacks and Fighting Leathernecks tip at 7 p.m.
