Jackrabbits fall in Fargo

Tuesday, February 17

Fargo, N.D.

7 p.m.

South Dakota State University

North Dakota State

2/17/2009 1:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball

By: SDSU Sports Info

FARGO, N.D. ? North Dakota State made three-pointers on five of its first six possessions of the second half, turning a 37-31 halftime lead into a runaway, as South Dakota State dropped its sixth straight game to the Bison 96-74 on Tuesday night at the Bison Sports Arena in Fargo.

The loss drops the Jacks to 12-16 overall, 7-9 in The Summit League, while the Bison improve to 20-6 overall and 13-2 in league play.

Garrett Callahan led three Jackrabbits in double figures with 19 points, including a 4-for-4 night at the free throw line, which boosts his free throw streak to 29 straight over the last six games. Anthony Cordova and Dale Moss both finished with 15 in the loss.

Ben Woodside led all scorers and four Bison in double figures with 32 points. Mike Nelson added 18, Michael Tveidt 12 and Brett Winkelman 10 in the win.

Unlike last year's contest in Fargo, when the Bison used a 15-0 run early in the first half to catapult them to 90-63 win, the Jackrabbits started tough on Tuesday, and led 6-4 in the early going.

NDSU retook the lead on the next trip down the floor and never trailed again, as they steadily built its lead up to ten points at 24-14 halfway through the first half.

The Jackrabbits battled back to within three at 28-25 with 6:29 left in the half, but the Bison started to pull away late in the half, and used and ended the half on an 8-2 run to take a 45-33 lead into the lockerroom.

The Bison came out of the lockerroom and started pouring in three-pointers to extend the 8-2 run to a 23-4 run with less than four minutes gone in the second half. The run ended with NDSU up 26 at 61-35 and they led by as many as 29 in the half before SDSU cut it to 22 on its last possession, a layup by Troy Wipf.

The Jackrabbits shot 57.7 percent in the first half on 15-of-26 shooting, but they turned the ball over ten times compared the four turnovers for the Bison, who shot 56 percent in the first half on 19-of-34 shooting.

The Bison, however, continued their hot shooting into the second half, where they shot 51.6 percent on 16-of-31 shooting, but NDSU did most of its damage from downtown, going 8-of-12 from distance (66.7 percent) in the second half.

SDSU shot 44.4 percent from the field in the second half on 12-of-27 shooting and shot 50 percent from beyond the arc in six tries.

The Jackrabbits get a break from Summit League action until next Thursday, but return to action on Saturday, when they travel to San Luis Obispo, Calif., to take on Cal Poly in their ESPNU BracketBusters game.

Tip-off from Mott Gymnasium is scheduled for 7 p.m. PT (9 p.m. CT).