Jacks drop heartbreaker at SUU in OT

Saturday, January 17

Cedar City, Utah

7:30 p.m. MT

South Dakota State University

Southern Utah

1/18/2009 1:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball

By: SDSU Sports Info

CEDAR CITY, Utah ? Garrett Callahan drained a three-pointer with three seconds left in regulation on Saturday in Cedar City, Utah, but Southern Utah's Jake Nielson answered with a 30-footer at the buzzer to tie the game at 75 and force overtime, where the Thunderbirds outscored the Jackrabbits 10-5 for the 85-80 win.

The Jacks, who led by as many as ten points in second half, fall to 8-12 overall, 3-5 in The Summit League and drops to 2-5 in overtime games at the Division I level.

The win boosts the T-bird's overall record to 6-12 and 4-3 in league play.

Clint Sargent, who scored only three points in six minutes during the first half due to foul trouble, led the Jackrabbits with 24 points, one shy of his career-high, on 8-of-14 shooting, including a 6-for-10 effort from three-point range.

Callahan finished the night with 16 points, Kai Williams added 15 and Payton Tivis a career-high six in his fourth straight start and sixth of his career.

Davis Baker led all players with 22 points, Nielson finished with 21, while Tyler Quinney added 20 in the win. John Clifford rounded out the double-digit scorers for SUU and recorded the game's only double-double with 12 points and ten rebounds.

Southern Utah shot 59 percent for the game on 29-of-49 shooting, but did most of its damage in the second half, when the T-birds shot 66 percent on 12-of-21 shooting.

The Jackrabbits shot 61 percent in the first half on 14-of-23 shooting and shot 45 percent in the second half (13-of-29), but shot just 25 percent in the extra frame on 2-of-8 shooting.

SUU also one the battle on the boards 35-26 and finished the game with five steals compared to none by SDSU.

The first half featured six of the game's 14 ties and 13 of its 20 lead changes, but the a Williams jumper with just over five minutes left in the half broke a 26-all tie and started a 7-0 Jackrabbit run.

Southern Utah would close the gap to four points, but Michael Palarca hit a shot at the first half buzzer that put the Jacks up 36-30 at halftime.

The Jacks not only held on to that lead in the second half, but boosted it to as many as ten points at 55-45 with 13:50 left in the second half when the Thunderbirds started to come back.

It took almost seven minutes, but SUU kept chipping away at the lead before they finally got it back at 61-60 with 7:47 to play.

The next two minutes saw pair of lead changes and a pair of ties before the T-birds regained the lead and held it until a Williams layup with 1:52 on the clock put the Jack sup 70-69.

Clifford made one of his two free throws the next time down the floor to tie the game at 70, but Palarca put SDSU back up two with 56 ticks remaining.

Baker answered with 33 seconds left, but that gave the ball to SDSU with the scored tied at 72 and the shot clock turned off.

The Jackrabbits did not call timeout, and did not need to, as Callahan buried a three-pointer from the corner to put the Jacks up 75-72 with three seconds left, but Nielson's desperation shot from 30 feet found its mark and forced overtime.

Williams scored first in the extra frame to give the Jacks a short-lived lead and Callahan got it back with 1:26 left on a three pointer that gave SDSU an 80-79 lead, but SUU scored the final six points to seal the win.

The Jackrabbits return to action for one game next week, when they Summit League front-runner and rival North Dakota State on Friday at Frost Arena.

The game can be seen live in South Dakota on KSFY-TV on in North Dakota on KXJB-TV in North Dakota. Coverage starts at 7 p.m. with the tipoff scheduled for 7:05 p.m.