Jacks survive overtime thriller in Indy

Thursday, December 1

Indianapolis, Ind.

6:00 PM

South Dakota State University

IUPUI

12/1/2011 9:47:00 PM | Men's Basketball

By: SDSU Sports Info

INDIANAPOLIS - Summit League Preseason Player of the Year Alex Young scored 16 points, including four three-pointers, in the final five minutes of regulation to force an overtime period in Thursday's Summit League opener, but South Dakota State regained its poise in the extra frame, and went on to defeat IUPUI by the score of 97-93.

"We didn't take care of the ball like we should have late, we threw it around a little bit, but Young hit some tough shots, it's not like we weren't guarding him," head coach Scott Nagy said. "I was proud of our guys for not caving when things didn't look good. We didn't cave at Mercer when things didn't look good and we didn't do it tonight, so I'm really proud of the guys."

The Jacks improve to 5-3 overall and 1-0 in The Summit League with their first-ever win in Indianapolis. The Jaguars fall to 2-6 overall and 0-1 in the league, despite 28 points and nine rebounds from Young.

Nate Wolters led all-scorers with 32 points, adding a season-high eight rebounds and eight assists. Griffan Callahan scored 20 points in the win, and tied a career-high with 10 rebounds for his second-career double-double. Jordan Dykstra, seeing his first significant action in four games, scored 15 points off the bench.

The Jackrabbits led by as many as 15 points in the second half before Young erupted to give IUPUI its first lead since the 15:53 mark of the first half. Young's fourth three with 53 seconds left in the game put the Jaguars up 82-80.

Wolters responded with three of his game-high 32 points on the next trip down the floor to put the Jacks back on top 83-82, before a pair of Callahan free throws put the Jacks up 85-82 with 12 seconds left.

IUPUI's Sean Espositio drew a foul with six seconds left and made the first foul shot to draw the Jags to within two at 85-83. Esposito missed his second shot, Young got the offensive board, drew a foul and went to the line with four seconds left. He made both of his shots to tie the game and force overtime.

The game featured 12 ties, but only four lead changes, two of which came in overtime, before a Callahan put-back put the Jacks up for good at 95-93 with 39 seconds left in the game.

The Jackrabbits return to action on Saturday, when they travel to Macomb, Ill., to take on Western Illinois. The Jacks and Fighting Leathernecks tipoff at 7 p.m. Subscribers to the Jackrabbit extra on GoJacks.com can watch Saturday's game streaming live on the internet. If you don't already subscribe to the Jackrabbit Extra, log on to GoJacks.com and click on "SIGN UP NOW"

NOTES: Thursday's win marks the Jacks third win against IUPUI in nine games, the second in a row and the first-ever win at the Jungle in four tries ... true freshmen Taévaunn Prince and Zach Monaghan made their first-career starts in the game ... Wolters moved from 33rd to 30th on the SDSU all-time scoring list with 1,082 career points ... Wolters scored 30 or more points for the second time this season and sixth time in his career ... Callahan scored in double figures for the fifth straight game for the second time in his career ... Callahan tied a career-high with 10 rebounds in the win and recorded his second-career double-double, both of which he did in a home win over Nevada on Nov. 30, 2010