Jacks win streak snapped in Grand Forks

Thursday, December 15

Grand Forks, N.D.

7:00 PM

South Dakota State University

North Dakota

12/15/2011 10:35:00 PM | Men's Basketball

By: SDSU Sports Info

GRAND FORKS, N.D. - South Dakota State used an opening 15-0 run to cruise to a 92-54 win over North Dakota on Saturday at Frost Arena. Five days later, North Dakota opened the game with a 6-for-6 effort from the floor to take an early lead that it would not relinquish in an 89-70 win over the Jackrabbits.

The loss snaps a five game winning streak for the Jackrabbits, who fall to 9-4 on the season, while North Dakota improves to 5-5 overall.

"I told the guys after the game that one of the biggest tests for an individual or a team is success. Very few people can have a tremendous amount of success and it doesn't satisfy them, and I don't think we've handled success very well," head coach Scott Nagy said. "If you're going to hand out a butt whipping, then you better be able to take one, and that's what happened tonight, you just better be able to swallow your medicine."

The Jackrabbits missed their first seven shots from long range and trailed by as many as 18 points in the half, but made their final five three-point attempts of the half and went to the locker room at halftime on an 11-2 run and trailing 45-36.

North Dakota shot an even 64 percent from the field on the first half on 16-of-25 shooting, while the Jacks shot just 43 percent on 13-of-30 shooting.

Two quick SDSU turnovers to start the second half resulted in four North Dakota points, as UND started the second half on a 7-0 run to go back up by 16 points at 52-36, and never let the Jacks get any closer than 11 points the rest of the way.

North Dakota's shooting did cool off a bit in the second half, but it still shot 55 percent in the half on 18-of-33 shooting. The Jackrabbits remained cold from the floor, shooting 42 percent in the second half on 10-of-24 shooting.

Nate Wolters led the Jackrabbits with 24 points in the loss, adding six rebounds and five assists. Chad White scored 16 points and Tony Fiegen 10 points in the loss.

Patrick Mitchell led five North Dakota players in double figures with 22 points, including a 6-for-9 night from three-point range. Jamal Webb scored 17 points, while Aaron Anderson, Troy Huff and Jordan Allard all finished with 12 points.

The Jackrabbits return to action on Sunday, when they travel to Seattle, Wash., to take on Washington at 12 p.m. PT, 2 p.m. CT.

NOTES: Thursday's game marked the 183rd meeting between SDSU and UND, but the first game at Betty Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks, N.D. ... an announced crowd of 1,495 turned out to watch the game ... the loss snapped a four game winning streak over North Dakota, who leads the all-time series 104-79 .... the Jackrabbits tied a season-high with 18 turnovers in the loss, equaling a mark set at Minnesota on Nov. 14 ... Wolters scored 24 points in the game to boost his career total to 1,153, which moves him up to 22nd all-time at SDSU, 11 points shy of passing Cullen Ober (1,163 points from 1987-90) for 21st on the all-time list ... Wolters' five assists in the game give him 245 for his career, good for seventh all-time at SDSU