Williams scores 1,000th-career-point in overtime thriller

Saturday, January 31

Frost Arena

7:30 p.m.

South Dakota State University

Oakland

Jacks drop Denver for second straight win

1/31/2009 1:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball

By: SDSU Sports Info

Kai Williams needed to sink a free throw late in overtime to complete an old fashioned three-point play, seal a Jackrabbit win and become the 39th member of the SDSU 1,000-Point Club. He made it.

South Dakota State needed its largest second half comeback in the Division I era and overtime to do it, but the Jackrabbits defeated Oakland on Saturday night 74-68 at Frost Arena to improve to 10-13 overall and 5-6 in The Summit League.

The Jacks previous largest comeback came on Dec. 10, 2005, when SDSU overcame a 16-point deficit to beat Denver.

Oakland falls to 13-11 overall and to 6-5 in league play with the loss.

Clint Sargent led the way for the Jackrabbits with 17 points, including a three-pointer with 13 seconds that gave the Jackrabbits a 64-62 lead and sent the season-high crowd of 5,740 into a frenzy.

Williams and Anthony Cordova both scored 15 points and both finished the game with double-doubles, Williams with a game-high 17 and Cordova with ten.

Griffan Callahan rounded out the double-digit scorers for the Jackrabbits with 13 points.

Keith Benson led all players with 18 points, added 15 rebounds and came up two blocks shy of a triple-double. Erik Kangas scored 17 points, Johnathon Jones 15 and Will Hudson ten in the loss.

Oakland opened the game with a layup on its first possession, but Williams answered with a three-pointer to give SDSU an early, but short-lived, lead.

The Golden Grizzlies quickly took the lead back and except for a short 16-second period between a pair of Griffan Callahan free throws and a Hudson layup led for the rest of the half.

Oakland led by as many as 12 points in the first half and took an 11-point 35-24 lead into the lockerroom.

That lead grew to 17-points at 28-45 at the 17:54 mark of the second half when the Jacks started their comeback, rattling off a 22-5 run in just five minutes and 13 seconds that ended with a tie at 50-all with 12:22 left to play in regulation.

Five ties and three lead changes followed, with neither team able to get a lead of more than two points.

The final lead change came when Sargent buried a three with 13 seconds left to put SDSU up two at 64-62, but Sargent fouled Jones on a layup on the other end that gave him a chance to put OU up 65-64 by finishing the three-point play. Jones missed and Sargent's jumper at the buzzer drew iron and bounced out, forcing the Jackrabbits second overtime game in their last four outings.

SDSU lost its first two overtime contests this season, but Cordova scored the first four points in the extra frame and the Jacks never trailed again.

Oakland cut the lead to two with 2:44 to play, but Williams' layup and subsequent free throw after the foul put SDSU up five at 71-66 with 17 seconds left.

Jones would make a layup at the other end to cut the deficit to three, but the clock favored the Jacks and the Callahan brothers scored the final three points at the line to seal the 74-66 win, the Jacks first overtime win since a 79-71 victory at UMCK on Dec. 19, 2006.

The Jackrabbits return to action on Thursday, when they travel to Indianapolis, Ind., to take on IUPUI at 7 p.m. ET. The Jacks won the first meeting with the Jaguars 83-63 on Jan. 10, in Frost Arena.