Half court prayer sinks the Jacks at Western Illinois

Saturday, February 7

Macomb, Ill.

7 p.m.

South Dakota State University

Western Illinois

Sargent?s career night ends with Jackrabbit loss

2/7/2009 1:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball

By: SDSU Sports Info

MACOMB, Ill. - Western Illinois held South Dakota State scoreless for the final three minutes and scored the final ten points of the game, including a three-pointer from half court at the buzzer, to send South Dakota State to a 72-69 loss in Macomb, Ill., and keep the Jackrabbits winless in Summit League road games.

Josh Rivers sank the half court prayer go give the Leathernecks the win, which improves them to 8-16 overall and 5-8 in Summit League play. The Jacks fall to 10-15 overall and to 5-8 in the league.

Rivers scored 15 points for Western, but David DuBois led the charge with 24 points, while Quenton Kirby added ten points off the bench.

Clint Sargent led a trio of Jackrabbits in double figures with 21 points, Garrett Callahan scored 16 and Anthony Cordova 15 in the loss.

The Jackrabbits struggled to shoot 41 percent in the first half on 12-of-29 shooting and only improved to 48 percent in the second half on 11-of-23 shooting for a game total of 44 percent.

Western shot 62 percent in the first half on 13-of-21 shooting, but shot just 41 percent in the second half on 11-of-27 shooting for a game total of an even50 percent.

SDSU tied a season-low with six turnovers and forced 14, but the Leathernecks won the rebounding battle 33-22. Both teams finished the game with 13 assists and with eight free throws.

The Jackrabbits scored first and, minus one tie, held on to the lead in the early going and led by as many as six points three times, the last being 16-10 with just over nine minutes gone in the game.

Western Illinois did not go away though, and rattled off a 12-3 run that ended with a 22-18 Leatherneck leak with 5:49 on the first half clock.

The Jacks regained the lead a minute and a half later, but Western closed the half on a 12-4 run to take a 34-27 lead into the lockerroom.

WIU made that a nine-point lead on its first possession of the second half, only to see it vanish in an 11-2 Jackrabbit run that tied the game at 38 with 16:20 to play.

Western would score the next six points, but the Jacks kept fighting and came back to take their first lead of the half at 51-50 on a Cordova layup with 7:31 remaining.

SDSU pushed its lead to a game-high seven points at 59-52 with 3:02 to play, but did not score for the rest of the game. The Leathernecks, on the other hand, scored ten more points, including Rivers' buzzer beater to send the Jacks home.

The Jackrabbits return to action on Thursday, when they host Southern Utah at 7 p.m. in Frost Arena.

The Thunderbirds got a buzzer beater of their own to force overtime in the first meeting of the season on Jan. 17, and eventually won the game 85-80.