MILWAUKEE, Wisc. ? South Dakota State Freshman Garrett Callahan made his long awaited Jackrabbit debut on Wednesday against Wisconsin-Milwaukee, but despite an 11-point effort, Callahan and the Jacks fell to the Panthers 75-58.
SDSU fell behind early when UWM opened the game on a 10-2 run, but the Jacks battled back to get within two at 27-29 after Jose Frias stole the ball and fed Blake Yackley for a three-pointer.
The Jacks trailed 35-30 at the half, and fell behind by as many as ten points before mounting another comeback.
Down two with just over seven minutes to go, Frias stole the ball and made a layup that tied the game at 54, but the Panthers came roaring back to outscore the Jacks 21-4 down the stretch, thus snapping their three game losing streak.
Matt Cadwell led the Jacks with 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting, including 1-for-3 from beyond the three-point arc and 1-for-2 on free-throw attempts.
After sitting out the first four games, Callahan scored 11 points off the bench and tied a team high with six rebounds.
Blake Yackley also grabbed six rebounds and added nine points on 3-of-4 shooting, all of them in the first half, and all of them three-pointers.
Ricky Franklin led four panthers in double-figures with 13. Custer, South Dakota native Paige Paulson added 12, while Marcus Skinner, Avery Smith and Kevin Massiah all added 10 points.
Wisconsin Milwaukee improves to 2-4 with the win, while the Jacks fall to 0-5.
South Dakota State returns to action on Friday, when they take on another group of panthers, this time from Northern Iowa. Tip off for the second game ever at the new McLeod Center in Cedar Falls, Iowa is slated for 7:05 p.m.
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