Men's basketball drops contest at WIU

Wednesday, January 4

Macomb, Ill.

7 p.m.

South Dakota State University

8-10, 1-2

Western Illinois

5-9, 2-1

South Dakota State

Western Illinois

Photo by: Inertia Sports Media/Dave Eggen

1/4/2017 9:16:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

MACOMB, Illinois -- South Dakota State dropped its first game of the New Year, 82-74, Wednesday evening at Western Illinois.

SDSU (8-10, 1-2 Summit League) shot 41.5 percent in the game with eight 3-pointers and a 22 of 29 effort at the free throw line, but WIU (5-9, 2-1 Summit League) hit 16 3-pointers, and shot 41.9 percent from the field as a team to secure the win.

A.J. Hess paced the team with a double-double of 13 points and 14 rebounds (a career-high), while Michael Orris led the team in scoring with 17 points. Reed Tellinghuisen added 15 points and six rebounds for the game and Chris Howell just missed double figures, finishing with nine points.

Four Leathernecks were in double figures as Garret Covington led the team with 22 points.

Ahead 5-1 early, South Dakota State saw Western Illinois put together three runs of five or more in the opening nine minutes to take a 20-14 lead near the 12-minute mark.

Down six at that point, SDSU went on a burst of 13 unanswered over the next four and a half minutes behind two Hess 3-pointers to lead 27-20. That rally was part of a larger 18-3 run that gave the Jacks a 32-23 lead inside six minutes to play. WIU cut the lead to four, 32-28, moments later, but the Jacks kept the Leathernecks at bay and and moved the advantage into double digits, 39-28, at 2:45 on a Hess jumper.

WIU scored the final five points of the half, but for the third consecutive game the Jackrabbits took a lead into the locker room, ahead 39-33 at half.

Hess was over the halfway mark to a double-double with 13 points and eight rebounds in the opening frame, hitting three 3-pointers to lead the team.

SDSU fired at 43.3 percent from the field in the half and hit five 3-pointers as a team while Western Illinois had eight 3-pointers to keep things close, shooting 36.7 percent as a team on field goals.

The opening four minutes of second half action saw Western Illinois chip away at the lead to draw within two, 46-44, before the media timeout. Out of the reset, SDSU went back up four but saw the Leathernecks answer with a 3-pointer to make it a one-point game, 48-47, with 14:13 to play.

South Dakota State recovered briefly, as the Jacks opened up a seven-point lead (58-51) over the next five minutes, before WIU continued to charge and matched the Jacks, 61-61, at the under-eight media timeout (7:02).

Down the stretch, SDSU was hit with a cold spell from the field that allowed WIU to pull away.

Head Coach T.J. Otzelberger
On tonight's game ...
"It seems like there seems to be a similar theme that seems to be a little bit like the definition of insanity. We do a great job in the first half of executing what we want to do and then in the second half we play against teams that their will to win and desire to win is just greater than ours.

"As a result we have a similar situation where in the first half we control the tempo and in the second half teams score a lot more on us and our energy on defense is decreases and we're going to have to figure out that when we start halves we need to have tremendous energy and not just try to hold on to games, otherwise we're not going to change the outcome."

On Orris' play ...
"I thought he did a nice job tonight of attacking the paint, especially when Mike Daum was out. We kind of opened up the floor and got to the basket and made some plays for people. I was happy to see that."

On foul trouble for Daum ...
"Obviously part of the reason, a big part, we're playing the zone is to try to do that (avoid foul trouble) and tonight in the 1-3-1 and the 3-2 we picked up some fouls. That's the first time he's been in foul trouble in awhile and I thought our team responded well and we still we're up six in the first half and played without him a majority of the first half."

Game Notes
South Dakota State leads the all-time series, 20-4. SDSU had won 17 straight in the series entering tonight's matchup.
A.J. Hess reached a new career-high with 14 rebounds. His previous high at SDSU was 10, and he had nine as a career-high at Southern Utah.
Michael Orris posted a career-high in a Jackrabbit uniform with 17 points. His overall career high is 18, set while wearing a Northern Illinois uniform.
Mike Daum did not score in the first half for the first time since Dec. 8, 2015 at Minnesota. He finished with six points in that game.

What's Next
South Dakota State returns home Saturday, Jan. 7 to host Omaha in a women's and men's basketball doubleheader. The women's game is set for 2 p.m., with the men to follow at approximately 4:30 p.m.