Jacks Cold in Florida, but Survive at FGCU

Saturday, December 19

Fort Myers, Fla.

4 p.m.

South Dakota State University

10-2

FGCU

6-5

South Dakota State

FGCU

12/19/2015 8:53:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: SDSU Sports Info

FORT MYERS, Fla. – Both South Dakota State and FGCU came out cold on Saturday in sunny Fort Myers, Fla., and even though neither team heated up throughout the game, the Jackrabbits found a way to grind out a win, 56-52, over the Eagles at Alico Arena.

The Jackrabbits improve to 10-2 with the win, while the Eagles fall to 6-5.

The Jacks started the game 3 for 11 from the floor, only a little bit better than the 3 for 12 Eagles start nearly eight minutes into the game. Both teams added a pair of free throws and the game stood deadlocked at 8-8 until a Tevin King free throw put the Jacks up with 12:14 remaining in the first half.

SDSU led 17-16 with 4 minutes, 31 seconds left, but scored 14 of the next 20 points, with 11 of them coming from Mike Daum, including a trio of 3-pointers. The Jacks sandwiched runs of 6-0 and 8-0 around an Eagle 6-0 run to account for the 20 points, which ended with a Lane Severyn tip-in moments before the first half horn sounded with SDSU leading 31-22.

The offensive struggles continued into the second half, but FGCU cobbled together a couple of 6-0 runs to tie the game and eventually take a 45-43 lead, its first since the opening minutes of the game, with 7:10 on the clock.

Down 47-45 about a minute later, the Jacks got a 6-0 run of their own to regain the lead at 51-47 with a tick over two minutes left in the game. Parks took it from there, sinking four clutch free throws down the stretch to secure the win.

Parks led the Jacks with 15 points, with Daum adding 14, including all four of SDSU's 3-pointers for SDSU, which shot a season-low 30.9 percent from the floor, 17 of 55 overall, and from 3-point range, 17.4 percent, 4 for 23.

Ian Theisen scored six points, but tied for game-high honors with a career-high 11 rebounds.

Minus Marc-Eddy Noriela, who scored a game-high 26 points on 10 of 17 shooting, the Eagles didn't fare much better, as they finished 37 percent from the floor overall, 20 of 54, and 14.3 percent from long range, 2 of 14. Noriela also grabbed 11 rebounds for the game's only double-double.

The Jackrabbits look to make it two straight wins on Tuesday at Weber State, in a rematch of an 85-68 SDSU win at Frost Arena on Nov. 16. The Jacks and Wildcats tip from Ogden, Utah at 8 p.m. CT.

NOTES: The win ties the all-time series 1-1 … the teams played in front of 3,247 fans at Alico Arena on the campus of Florida Gulf Coast University … SDSU scored a season-low 31 points in the first half … SDSU led at halftime in all 12 games this season … SDSU led for at least 30 minutes in all 10 wins this season … for the first time this season, SDSU did not lead by at least 20 points at some point in a game it won … SDSU won a game when scoring fewer than 60 points for the first time in exactly one year, after beating Bakersfield 53-49 on Dec. 19, 2014 at the World Vision Classic in Logan, Utah … Parks streak of 34 consecutive free throws came to an end, as he missed his 35th attempt … Garrett Callahan made 35 straight free throws over 11 games from Jan. 29-March 7, 20 … Daum made three 3-pointers in the first 11 games of the season and four on Saturday … Theisen recorded double figure rebounds for the first time in his career … the win give Scott Nagy 394 for his career, six shy of 400