Oakland ends Rabbits run in the Summit

Monday, March 9

Sioux Falls, S.D.

8:30 p.m.

South Dakota State University

Oakland (Mich.)

Jacks non-conference season ends at Minnesota

3/10/2009 1:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball

By: SDSU Sports Info

SIOUX FALLS ? South Dakota State's run towards the NCAA Tournament came to an end on Monday in Sioux Falls with a 74-56 loss to Oakland in front of 5,986 fans at the Sioux Falls Arena, the largest crowd to watch a Summit League semifinal game since 1994.

The loss not only ends the seventh seeded Jackrabbits hopes of an NCAA Tournament bid, it ends their season with a 13-20 overall record.

The third seeded Golden Grizzlies improve to 22-11 with the win and advance to play top seeded North Dakota State on Tuesday in the nationally televised championship game at 7:05 p.m. riding a school-record nine game winning streak.

Anthony Cordova led the Jacks with a career-high 22 points in the loss, but finished at the team's lone player in double figures.

Erik Kangas led Oakland with 21 points, Johnathon Jones added 16 and Keith Benson nine points to go along with his game-high 14 rebounds.

The Jacks hung around early and trailed by just one at 7-6 with just under five minutes off the clock, but the Grizzlies got hot, and used to 13-2 run to take a commanding 20-8 lead that they never relinquished.

Oakland led 38-18 at the half and led by as many as 27 points in the second half before the Jacks came back to cut the lead to the final 18-point margin on a late basket.

Garrett Callahan ends the season as the Jacks leading scorer with 520 points for a 15.8 points per game average. That gives him 1,092 career-points, which moves him past Steve Lingenfelter (1,091 points from 1980-81) for 25th all-time at SDSU.

Kai Williams scored seven points in the loss, and ends the season with 1,091 points, tying him with Lingenfelter for 26th all-time at SDSU.