Jacks complete big comeback in home opener

Friday, November 21

Frost Arena

7:00 PM

South Dakota State University

North Dakota

11/21/2014 11:39:00 PM | Men's Basketball

By: SDSU Sports Info

South Dakota State led for all of 47 seconds in Friday's home opener against North Dakota, but it led when it mattered most, when the final horn sounded. The Jackrabbits trailed by 15 points at halftime, but rallied in the second half to defeat UND 74-72 in front of 2,651 fans at Frost Arena.

Both teams end the night with a 1-2 record on the season.

“Obviously we weren't very good in the first half, that mostly had to do with them having their kids more ready in terms of strategy and emotion and those things,” head coach Scott Nagy said. “We made some adjustments in the second half and our players did a good job of getting them down to 41 percent shooting in the second half, which is where it should be, and we just got the ball in our experienced players' hands in the right moments and they made big plays for us, Cody and Jake.”

Cody Larson and Jake Bittle combined for 15 points in the second half, 14 of which came in the final 3 minutes, 20 seconds of the game, the last three being a Bittle 3-point play with five seconds left that put the Jacks up for good at 73-71.

SDSU immediately fouled UND's Tyler Estan on the inbound. He made the first free throw and intentionally missed the second, but SDSU got the rebound. The Jacks did turn it over on a long inbound pass, but with just two seconds left, UND could only send up a prayer at the buzzer that didn't get answered.

UND opened the game hot, connecting on its first six shots and eight of its first nine to take a 23-13 lead with 11:45 left in the first half. North Dakota then turned an 8-0 run into a 17-2 run that put it up by 17 at 42-25 with just over two minutes left in the half.

Down 44-29 at halftime, the Jacks started the second half on a 10-2 run and kept chipping away at the lead until forcing the first of four ties at 65-65 on a Larson layup with 2:04 left. Three more ties followed before Bittle's runner in the lane fell with five seconds left to put the Jacks up for good.

In the end, Deondre Parks led the Jackrabbits with 19 points on 7 of 10 shooting. Larson finished with 15 points and six rebounds and Bittle added 12 points and four assists. True freshman Reed Tellinghuisen played a season-high 32 minutes and scored nine points and added three assists.

Jaron Nash led UND with 18 points and finished with a game-high eight rebounds. Tyler Estan scored 17 points off the bench and Chad Calcaterra 13 points in the loss.

SDSU looks to even its record on Monday, when the Jacks host Chadron State at 8:30 p.m., following the Jackrabbit women's game against Sam Houston State, which begins at 6 p.m.

NOTES: North Dakota leads the all-time series with South Dakota State 104-82 … SDSU leads the series at the Division I level 4-1, with wins in each of the last three meetings ... SDSU won the last meeting at Frost Arena on Nov. 28, 2012, by a 71-70 score, when Chad White hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer ... SDSU overcame a double-digit second half deficit for the first time since Jan. 30, 2014, when the Jacks trailed Denver 56-46 with 9:11 left in the game and won 74-73 ... SDSU overcame a double-digit halftime lead at home for the first time since Jan. 27, 2011, when SDSU trailed IPFW 40-26 at halftime and won the game 65-64 ... Larson's streak of double-doubles ended at three games ... UND scored 23 points off of 13 Jackrabbit turnovers, while SDSU scored 11 points off of 14 UND turnovers ... SDSU finished with a 14-6 edge in second chance points, despite one fewer offensive rebound