South Dakota State rallied back from a 13-point halftime deficit and held off a late second half charge by North Dakota, to close out a 60-59 victory in the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center on Saturday.
The Jackrabbits trailed by as many as 15 in the first half before Zeke Mayo hit a pair of free throws to cut the margin to 33-20 at the break. The Fighting Hawks registered a 42.9-26.7% shooting edge in the opening 20 minutes while hitting five 3-pointers and holding SDSU to just one.
SDSU came out of halftime by scoring 10 of the first 13 points to cut the UND lead into single digits. The Fighting Hawks hit a 3-pointer to go up 44-35 with 11 minutes, 33 seconds remaining. That’s when the Jackrabbits began their comeback.
Six points from Matt Dentlinger, and a field goal apiece by William Kyle III and Mayo, spearheaded a Jackrabbit 10-0 run in a less than three-minute span to give South Dakota State its first advantage of the contest.
A layup for North Dakota momentarily put the Fighting Hawks in front, but consecutive 3-pointers by Matt Mims and Mayo pushed the SDSU edge up to five. A 12-point scoring run over a two-and-a-half-minute stretch gave the Jacks a 57-46 lead with 5:21 left.
The Fighting Hawks continued to compete and with a minute on the clock forced a Jackrabbit timeout trailing 59-56. An ensuing SDSU turnover led to a pair of free throws by UND’s Jalun Trent. Another turnover by the Jackrabbits gave the Hawks a chance to take the lead, but they eventually tied the score at 59 as Matt Norman made one of two free throw attempts.
The clock stood at seven seconds with SDSU needing to go the length of the court for a look at a game winner. Alex Arians served as the inbounder and got the ball back following the pass in and dribbled his way up court. He drove the lane and drew contact from two UND defenders, eventually picking up a blocking call and an opportunity at the free throw line.
Arians missed his first shot at the charity strike, however made the second to put SDSU ahead 60-59. Just over two seconds remained on the clock forcing a Fighting Hawks half-court heave at the buzzer which clanked off the backboard.
The Jackrabbits outshot the Fighting Hawks 50-35% in the second half. They also forced nine turnovers, five of which came on steals, while giving the ball away just three times. SDSU was outrebounded in the contest 38-31, but had a 16-15 edge on the boards in the final 20 minutes of play.
“The 50/50 balls went our way in the second half,” SDSU head coach Eric Henderson said. “We were fighting like crazy. We had some better movement, we were getting up and down the floor a little quicker, getting to our offense earlier and we weren’t standing around as much.
“Those things are really important because offense isn’t always easy for us. We were throwing it inside and really trying to establish the paint, and we didn’t do a great job of that. So, we got the ball moving a bit better in the second half and it worked out for us.”
South Dakota State improved to 8-9 overall and 3-2 in Summit League play with the victory. North Dakota fell to 6-11 (0-4).
Notes
• The Jackrabbits finished with three double-digit scorers in Dentlinger (14), Mayo (14) and Arians (13). Both Mims and Kyle III had eight points. Dentlinger went 6-for-9 from the floor and had seven rebounds. Mayo finished with a team-high nine rebounds and four assists, while his six steals were a career high and most by a Jackrabbit since 2019. Kyle III swatted three UND shots.
• The Fighting Hawks finished with three scorers in double digits led by Tstone Tsartsidze’s 16. Brady Danielson corralled eight rebounds and Trent dished out five assists.
• South Dakota State has now won 14 straight matchups versus North Dakota and 18 of the last 19 meetings between the two sides.
Up Next
South Dakota State has a week between contests. The Jackrabbits travel to Vermillion on Saturday, Jan. 14, to take on South Dakota at 6 p.m.
-GoJacks.com-
