Palarca paces Jacks to road win at Western Illinois

Saturday, December 5

Macomb, Ill.

7 p.m.

South Dakota State University

Western Illinois

12/6/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball

By: SDSU Sports Info

MACOMB, Ill. - South Dakota State junior Michael Palarca came off the bench to score 12 of his career-high 14 points in the second half, including two key three-pointers, to lead the Jackrabbits to an 80-74 win over Western Illinois on Saturday in Macomb, Ill.

The 1,300th win in program history and first-ever Summit League road win boosts the Jacks record to 3-5 overall, 1-1 in The Summit League and snaps a five-game losing streak. The Fighting Leathernecks fall to 3-5 overall and 0-2 in league play.

SDSU trailed by as many as 16 points in the first half as Western shot 68 percent from the field in the first half. The Jacks shot 33 percent in the first half, but managed to cut the deficit to eight points at 37-29 at the half.

"I'm just really proud of the guys," said SDSU head coach Scott Nagy after the win. "Because when we got down 16 and things have been going the way they have been going for us, it would have been easy for them to roll over and they didn't."

Instead of rolling over, the Jacks shot 60 percent in the second half on 15-of-25 shooting, including two late three-pointers from Palarca, the last one with 23 seconds left to put the Jacks up by four points.

"I felt real comfortable," said Palarca. "Coach has confidence in me and I just felt like he let me play out there and do my thing."

In addition to his career-high 14 points, Palarca tied a career-best mark with three steals and added four assists and a pair of rebounds. Kai Williams scored 11 points in the win, Garrett Callahan added 10, while Chad White and Tony Fiegen both pitched in with nine. Dale Moss scored eight points and finished with a game-high nine rebounds off the bench.

Matt Lander led five Leathernecks in double figures with 17 points, James Granstra, Ceola Clark and Jeremy Felton all scored 12 and Jelani Johnson scored 11 in the loss.

Down by as many as 12 points in the second half with 15 minutes remaining, the Jacks continued to chip away at the lead until they eventually tied the game at 57-all on a White three-pointer with 7:21 left to play.

Western would regain the lead and go up 67-63 with 5:43 left, but the Jacks came back to tie the game at 67 on a Moss put-back and never trailed again and each time the Leathernecks came close, Palarca nailed a three to give the Jacks room to breath.

"We have a nine-hour bus ride home, but this is going to make it a lot easier," said Nagy "We'll play with a lot more confidence the next time out. I'm really proud of the guys.

The Jackrabbits return to non-conference action on Tuesday, when they host Southwest Minnesota State in Frost Arena at 7 p.m.