Callahan?s career night ends in a Jackrabbit loss

Saturday, January 6

Brookings, S.D.

7 p.m.

South Dakota State University

Central Florida

1/6/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball

By: SDSU Sports Info

BROOKINGS, S.D. ? South Dakota State hosted Central Florida on Friday night at Frost Arena in the 15th annual Lamb Bonanza and the Jackrabbits put on quite a show despite losing to the Golden Knights 72-61.

Down by three early in the game, Garrett Callahan found Kai Williams for an alley-oop dunk off the inbound pass to get the Jacks within one point. The dunk sent the crowd of 1,587 into a short lived frenzy, as Jermaine Taylor buried a three-pointer on the Golden Knights next possession to put them back up by four points.

The Jacks would cut the lead to one on a Callahan three-point basket midway through the first half, but trailed by six going into the locker room at 34-28.

The teams traded three-pointers to start the second half before the Jacks went on a short 6-0 run to get within three at 37-34, but Taylor sparked Central Florida with eight points in a fast paced 11-0 run that lasted just four minutes.

The Golden Knights built a 15-point lead with 9:32 to go in the game, but the Jacks started to chip away and got a big boost when Williams got his second alley-oop dunk, this time from Matt Cadwell, that cut the UCF lead to six points, 65-59.

But Mike O'Donnell did not miss down the stretch, scoring the Golden Knight's final nine points to secure the Central Florida win.

Although the Jacks lost the game, fans did get a good glimpse of the future. Callahan dished out three of his four assists to Williams in spectacular fashion, including the alley-oop in the first half.

Callahan led the Jacks with a career high 21 points on 6-of-18 shooting (33 percent), he also made all seven of his free throw attempts. Callahan also led the team in rebounding with a career high seven and committed just one turnover in tying a career high with 40 minutes played.

Cadwell went just 1-for-8 from the floor in the first half for four points, but shot better in the second half to finish with 14 points.

Williams rounded out the Jacks double-digit scorers with 13 points.

Taylor led all scorers with 26 points on 9-of-14 shooting (64 percent) and added five rebounds.

O'Donnell finished the game with 14 points, nine of which came in the last 2:56.

Lavell Payne scored 13 points and grabbed a game high 12 rebounds for the game's only double-double.

Central Florida improves to 11-3 with the win while the Jacks fall to 4-12.

South Dakota State returns to the road after a full week off to take on Butler next Saturday night in Indianapolis, Indiana. Tip off at Hinkle Fieldhouse is scheduled for 2 p.m. ET (1 p.m. CT).

The South Dakota State at Butler game can be seen on a free, live video web cast on the Horizon League Network. Viewers must register with the site before they can watch. Log on to www.GoJacks.com and go to the men's basketball page for the link.