Jacks come up short at Buffalo in Opener

Friday, November 14

Buffalo, N.Y.

6:30 PM

South Dakota State University

Buffalo

11/15/2014 12:14:00 AM | Men's Basketball

By: SDSU Sports Info

BUFFALO, N.Y. - Both Jackrabbit seniors posted a double-double and grabbed career-high rebounds, but the South Dakota State men's basketball team still came up short in a 69-67 loss at Buffalo in both team's 2014-15 season opener.

Cody Larson finished with 15 points and 15 rebounds, while Zach Horstman scored 13 points to go with his 12 rebounds, two of four Jackrabbits to reach double figures points in the game. Those same four players also combined to go 11 for 21 from the free throw line, part of the team's 14 for 29 night at the charity stripe.

“I thought the effort was good, but the execution was awful. We've had a lot of practice, and our execution should be a lot better than it was,” head coach Scott Nagy said. “We played good enough defense, but it's hard to overcome 15 missed free throws. Really, it doesn't matter what you say, if you miss 15 free throws, then you don't deserve to win.”

Despite the free throw woes, the Jacks still led at halftime after Horstman tipped-in an Anders Broman miss at the first half buzzer that gave SDSU a 28-27 lead after eight ties and six lead changes in the frame.

Buffalo scored first in the second half to regain the lead, but the Jacks responded with a 13-4 run to give the Jacks their largest lead of the game at 41-33 with 14 minutes, 46 seconds left in the game.

The Jacks went cold from there, and didn't score another field goal until a Jake Bittle layup with 6:56 remaining cut the Bulls lead to 54-50.

SDSU kept battling, and tied the game at 60-all with 3:45 on the clock, the 10th tie of the contest, and then regained the lead at 66-65 on a Bittle layup with just over a minute to play, but the Jacks turned it over the next two trips down the floor.

Buffalo made 22 of its first 26 free throws, but couldn't ice the game from the throw line at the end, giving SDSU a chance. Ironically, Deondre Parks intentionally missed a free throw with three seconds left, and SDSU got the ball back with 0.2 seconds on the clock, but the Jacks couldn't get the tip-in needed to tie the game and force overtime.

Bittle led the Jackrabbits with 16 points in the loss, with Skyler Flatten joining him, Larson and Horstman in double figures with 11 points in his Jackrabbit debut.

UB's Justin Moss led all players with 25 points before fouling out with 3:45 left in the game. He also added 13 rebounds. Shannon Evans finished with 17 points as the Bulls only other player in double figures.

The Jacks look to rebound from the season-opening loss on Monday, when they take on Idaho in Moscow, Idaho at 7 p.m. PT, 9 p.m. CT.

NOTES: Series tied 1-1 … the Jacks and Bulls played in front of 3,315 fans at Alumni Arena … SDSU falls to 41-24 in season-opening games since 1950, 12-8 in the Scott Nagy era and to 4-7 in the Division I era … two Jackrabbits posted a double-double in the same game for the first time since Larson and Bittle did so at Omaha on Feb. 13, 2014, both with 16 points and 10 rebounds … SDSU grabbed 40 rebounds in a game for the first time since they finished with 40 vs. South Dakota on March 1, 2014 … Horstman's 12 rebounds tops his previous career-mark of nine, set at Omaha on Feb. 13, 2014 … Larson's 15 rebounds tops his previous high of 12, set at Old Dominion on March 19, 2014 … Reed Tellinghuisen started his first collegiate game, and finished with a rebound, steal and an assists in 16 minutes … Ian Theisen made his only shot in his collegiate debut, a 3-pointer in the first half