Jacks hang on to beat Western Illinois

Saturday, December 3

Macomb, Ill.

7:00 PM

South Dakota State University

Western Illinois

12/3/2011 10:48:00 PM | Men's Basketball

By: SDSU Sports Info

MACOMB, Ill. - South Dakota State sophomore Chad White hit a pair of free throws with less than a second on the clock in Saturday's Summit League game at Western Illinois to put the Jackrabbits up 67-63. Good thing for the Jacks he did, because Western Illinois' Ceola Clark banked in a three-pointer from three-quarter court as time expired to make the final score 67-66, and an SDSU win.

The Jackrabbits, who played their last eight games away from Frost Arena, improve to 6-3 overall and remain perfect in Summit League play at 2-0. Western Illinois falls to 3-3 overall and 1-1 in league play.

"We just played eight straight on the road and we looked like this was our eight game on the road because we didn't have our legs, we didn't shoot the ball well, but 5-3 on the road shows that we're going to have a pretty good team," head coach Scott Nagy said. "We're not playing great, but we're battling and we're competing and fighting through that."

The Jackrabbits and Fighting Leathernecks played to nine ties and 16 lead changes in the game, with seven ties and three lead changes in the first half before Western Illinois took a 25-24 lead into the locker room at halftime.

Each team led by as many as four points in a back-and-forth battle in the second half, before the Jacks went up for good at 59-58 on a White put back with two and a half minutes left to play.

The Leathernecks would cut the lead to one point with 30 seconds left, but White's free throws sealed the win with less than a second left, despite the desperation heave from Clark.

White finished the game with 12 points off the bench, as did Zach Horstman, which marks a season-high for the true freshman from Winner, S.D. Jordan Dykstra added 11 points off the bench, as the Jackrabbits got 41 points from their reserves, compared to 19 from the home team.

Nate Wolters tied for game-high honors with 17 points, adding seven rebounds and seven assists in the win. Griffan Callahan also tied for team-high honors with seven rebounds, but with five points, failed to score in double figures for a sixth straight game.

Obi Emegano led WIU with 17 points, Remy Roberts-Burnett added 16 and Ceola Clark an even 10 points in the loss. Clark also added a game-high nine rebounds.

The Jackrabbits return home on Tuesday to host Southwest Minnesota State at 7 p.m., and then take on North Dakota on Saturday at 7:30 p.m., following the SDSU women's basketball game against Kansas State at 5 p.m.

NOTES: The Jackrabbits improve to 8-3 all-time against Western Illinois, with wins in each of the last five games ... The Jacks and Leathernecks played on Waste Management Court at Western Hall in front of an announced crowd of 1,038 ... Horseman's 12 points tops his previous high mark of eight points vs. Sam Houston State on Nov. 22 ... White's 12 points marks a season-high, topping his 11 points at Minnesota on Nov. 14 and at Mercer on Nov. 23 ... Wolters' 17 points gives him 1,099 for his career, moving him from 30th on the all-time SDSU scoring list to 25th