Jackrabbits stumble at Oakland

Thursday, January 26

Rochester, Mich.

6:00 PM

South Dakota State University

Oakland

1/26/2012 9:58:00 PM | Men's Basketball

By: SDSU Sports Info

ROCHESTER, Mich. - Nate Wolters scored 21 points, dished out a career-high 12 assists and grabbed eight rebounds, but Oakland's Travis Bader knocked down a school record 10 three-points in scoring a game and career-high 37 points in a 92-87 Golden Grizzlies win over the Jackrabbits on Thursday.

"The problem was on defense. Bader had a great game, and we let him get going, but what beat us was the offensive rebounds," head coach Scott Nagy said. "It wasn't just Bader shooting, it was when we needed the ball, we gave them three and four shots. When the plays needed to be made, they made 'em and we didn't."

Bader made five of his 10 threes in the first half, but the Jackrabbits, who fall to 16-6 on the season overall and 8-2 in The Summit League, still led 48-42 at halftime, behind 18 points from Jordan Dykstra, who posted season-highs with 23 points and 10 rebounds.

A Pair of Bader threes to open the second half tied the game for the first of five times the second half, as the Golden Grizzlies, who improve to 12-11 overall and 6-5 in league play, opened the half on an 8-0 run.

The Jackrabbits would fight back to force the second of five second half lead changes on a Taévaunn Prince layup with 12:23 to play, and then go up by four at 62-58 on a Griffan Callahan three-pointer 30 seconds later.

Oakland would force a pair of ties before taking the lead for good at 81-79 on a Bader's final three-pointer with 1:36 left in the game. The Jackrabbits shots failed to fall after that, and Oakland went 11-of-12 from the free throw line down the stretch the seal the win.

Along with Dykstra and Wolters, Callahan added 17 points in the loss, while Prince finished with nine points and tied a career-high with 10 rebounds.

Adding to Bader's big night off the bench, Oakland got 19 from Drew Valentine, 16 from Reggie Hamilton and 10 from Ryan Bass. Corey Petros scored just two points, but tied for game-high honors with 10 rebounds.

The Jacks look to get back on the winning track on Saturday, when they travel to Fort Wayne, Ind., to take on IPFW, who beat North Dakota State on Thursday by the score of 75-66. The Jackrabbits and Mastodons tipoff at 7 p.m. ET.

NOTES: Oakland improves to 10-2 all-time in the series with SDSU, including a 5-0 edge in Rochester ... the Jacks and Golden Grizzlies played in front of an announced crowd of 2,935 fans at the O'rena on the campus of Oakland University ... Wolters 21 points and career-high 12 assists gives him his fifth career double-double and his second of the season ... those 12 assists also give Wolters 404 in his career, and ties him with Chris Stoebner (1999-03) for third all-time at SDSU ... Wolters came up two rebounds shy of SDSU's first triple-double since Marquise Richardson did it on Nov. 21, 2003 against Minnesota Duluth with 11 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists ... Thursday marked the 13th time a Jackrabbit posted 12 assists in a game, but the first since Richardson ... Dykstra posted his second-career double-double and first of the season. His 10 rebounds also ties a career-high ... Callahan hit five three-pointers in the win, which moves him from eighth to seventh all-time at SDSU with 144, four shy of passing Andy Moeller (2000-04) for sixth on the all-time list