Jacks roll at home against Fort Wayne

Saturday, January 21

Brookings, S.D.

4:30 p.m.

South Dakota State University

9-13, 2-5

Fort Wayne

14-7, 3-4

Fort Wayne

South Dakota State

Photo by: Jason Salzman

1/21/2017 7:20:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Daum scores 1,000th career point

South Dakota State men's basketball took care of business in front of 3,203 fans at Frost Arena Saturday, defeating Fort Wayne, 77-67, in a game where Mike Daum scored his 1,000th career point and posted the program's third best scoring performance in school history.

SDSU (9-13, 2-5 Summit League) shot 46.3 percent from the field and hit 17 of 36 (47.2 percent) beyond the arc, hitting more 3-pointers than 2-pointers in the game. At the charity stripe, the Jacks went 10 of 18. Fort Wayne (14-7, 3-4 Summit League) shot 43.5 percent from the field as the Jacks held the nation's third best 3-point shooting team (in makes) to a 7 of 21 effort from long range. The Mastodons sunk 6 of 8 free throw attempts.

Daum took control of the game, hitting a school record 10 3-pointers while going 14 of 23 from the field. His 10 rebounds carried him towards his sixth double-double of the season and paced the team on the boards as well.

A.J. Hess scored 18 to reach double digits as well, tallying all of his points on six 3-pointers (out of 14 attempts). Chris Howell just missing a double-double, finishing with eight points and nine rebounds.

At the point, Michael Orris scored six points and dished a career-high 10 assists on the night.

SDSU held a narrow lead through the majority of the opening eight minutes despite facing a scoreless drought of over three minutes in that span. Leading 11-10 at the under-12 media, SDSU opened up a four-point lead only to see Fort Wayne answer with seven straight before a Hess 3-pointer at 8:27 squared things at 17-all.

The Jackrabbits erupted briefly at that point, tearing off a 15-5 run with a two stretches of six unanswered, hitting seven 3-pointers in that span. Including Hess' game-tying 3-pointer before the media, SDSU outscored the Mastodons, 18-5 over five minutes of game action.

Fort Wayne, however, closed the gap with an 8-0 run over the final 2:16 to send SDSU to the locker room ahead by two, 32-30.

Daum led the way with 16 points in the opening 20 minutes, hitting four 3-pointers behind a 6 of 10 effort from the field. Daum grabbed five rebounds as well, second on the team behind Chris Howell's six first half boards.

Hess closed the half with nine points with three treys.

SDSU shot 42.9 percent from the field in the half with eight treys, but failed to hit a free throw in the period. Fort Wayne was 13 of 31 from the field in the half (41.9 percent) and had four 3-pointers. The Mastodons did not attempt a free throw.

Fort Wayne regained the lead, 37-36, two and a half minutes into the second half and held off a Jackrabbit takeover until 9:47 when a Daum 3-pointer came in the midst of an 11-0 run that put the Jacks in the lead for good. The bucket also moved Daum past 1,000 career points.

Ahead 58-50 at the end of the run, SDSU saw the 'Dons claw back within four briefly, but free throw shooting and the Jackrabbits' 17th 3-pointer of the night helped SDSU close out the win to snap its four-game losing streak.

Head Coach T.J. Otzelberger
On win at home ...
"It feels great. I thought our guys had a good competitive spirit from start to finish. That starts on the practice floor. We're really happy how we've locked into things and that our guys haven't lost that competitive spirit, you saw it tonight. Everything we've been working on came to push so I'm really proud of them."

On Daum's play and joining the 1,000 points club tonight ...
"He means everything. He's an unbelievable player, obviously, and he shot the ball at an unbelievable rate tonight. We go through him. We goes as he goes. If you look at every game he's scored well, we come out with a victory, so we need to keep him going. Whether it's in the paint or at the three-point line, he's phenomenal."

On tonight's team effort ...
"A.J Hess really looked confident out there. I loved the way he shot the ball. He made 6 of 14 from three but he could've easily had nine or 10. I thought the other guys really played for each other and took the shots that were there to give us the best chance to win, so I'm really proud of the team effort."

Message in the locker room going forward ...
"I think for our team it's that we need everyone to stay ready. You look at a guy like Lane Severyn who hadn't really gotten a lot of playing time until recently and just started to get in. (He played) 22 minutes tonight with his energy and competitive spirit, he played to win and had a lot of hustle plays. So we need everybody to be ready and bring what they can bring everyday and if we do that we know we can keep this thing going in the right direction."

Game Notes

South Dakota State is now 35-10 all-time in Pork Classic games. The Jacks won nine straight Pork Classic games entering today.
Chris Howell earned his first career start in a Jackrabbit uniform.
Daum entered the day 22 points away from joining SDSU's 1,000 points club. His bucket at 9:47 put him over the 1,000 mark, making him the 46th member of the club and only the fourth Jackrabbit to reach 1,000 points in his second season of action. Unofficially (per SDSU's Sports Information Archives), Daum is the sixth fastest in Jackrabbit history to 1,000 points.
With 1,020 career points, Daum ranks 40th all-time on the Jackrabbit scoring list.
Daum's 42 points is the third highest scoring performance in school history.
Daum broke the school record for 3-point makes and attempts. Wolters held the previous marks with a 9 of 14 effort against Fort Wayne on Feb. 7, 2013.
Daum now has eight career double-doubles
Daum has reached double figures in 49 career games and 19 games this season. He has scored 20 or more in 15 games this season and 22 in his career and has broken the 30-point barrier six times this season. Tonight was his first game with over 40.
Daum is the fourth player in NCAA Division I this season to record a 40-point, 10-rebound game.
Michael Orris posted a career-high 10 assists. The last Jackrabbit to have 10 or more assists in a game was Wolters, who finsihed with 12 against Fort Wayne on March 11, 2013.
SDSU reset its school record for 3-pointers made for the second time this season with 17 today. The previous record was 16, set against Idaho on Nov. 21, 2016.
Apart from tonight's action, Central Michigan's Marcus Keene (W. Mich) scored 50 points in a game on Saturday to become the first NCAA DIvision I player to reach 50 points since Nate Wolters went for 53 at Fort Wayne on Feb. 7, 2013.

What's Next
The Jackrabbits head out for another two-game roadtrip next week, taking on Denver next Wednesday, Jan. 25 and Omaha on Saturday, Jan. 28.

-GoJacks.com-