Jackrabbit men topple ORU, 76-61

Wednesday, January 29

Tulsa, Okla.

7 p.m.

South Dakota State University

16-8,7-2Summit League

Oral Roberts

11-10,4-4Summit League

South Dakota St.

Oral Roberts

Photo by: Inertia Sports Media/Dave Eggen

1/29/2020 9:20:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

TULSA, Okla. -- A strong second half and 22-point effort from Noah Freidel carried the South Dakota State men's basketball team to a 76-61 victory over Oral Roberts Wednesday night.

Ahead four at the break, South Dakota State (16-8, 7-2 Summit League) outscored the Golden Eagles by 11 in the second half to pull away down the stretch and secure the road win.

The Jackrabbits shot 55.4 percent and buried 8-of-20 from deep as three scored in double figures: Freidel, Douglas Wilson (14) and Matt Dentlinger (12).

Freidel, who sank four 3-pointers, also led the team with seven rebounds and six assists. Wilson, Dentlinger and Baylor Scheierman each had five rebounds, while David Wingett finished with eight points and matched Freidel with seven boards.

SDSU's defensive effort was suffocating all night, holding ORU to its second-lowest field goal percentage this season while snapping the Golden Eagles' 10-game home winning streak. The Jacks were plus-one in rebounding, and despite allowing 19 offensive rebounds managed to outscore Oral Roberts in second-chance points, 14-9.

"I'm certainly proud of our guys for coming on the road and winning in a tough environment," head coach Eric Henderson said. "Our guys hung in there and stayed together. That's what it's about when you go on the road."

The Jackrabbits found themselves trailing 7-3 four minutes into the game, but a Dentlinger layup at 15:46 started South Dakota State on a 12-2 run over the next four minutes as the Jacks took control. Wingett's 3-pointer with 14:36 on the clock gave State its first lead of the night (10-7), and the advantage hit double digits (19-9) on another Dentlinger bucket near the 12-minute mark.

ORU roared back to tie it at 27 with four minutes left in the half, but State responded with six straight and went to the locker room with a 33-29 halftime lead.

The Golden Eagles hung within striking distance as the Jackrabbits worked through a slow start in the second, but SDSU came to life at 13:55 as Freidel buried a 3-pointer to spark the Jacks on a 21-4 rally. The Tea, South Dakota native scored 10 total points in the scoring burst to help SDSU to a 61-40 lead the under-eight media timeout.

ORU stopped the run out of the reset, but could not mount a comeback as the Jackrabbits maintained their hold on first place in the league standings.

Game Notes

South Dakota State is 16-9 all-time against Oral Roberts with seven consecutive wins over the Golden Eagles, completing the regular season sweep over ORU.
Noah Freidel now has three 20-point scoring performances against league teams.
The Jackrabbits outscored ORU by 18 in the paint Wednesday, and over the two games this season lead the Golden Eagles in that category, 104-54.
Matt Dentlinger has 14 double-digit scoring games (seven in league play) and Douglas Wilson has scored 10 or more in 21 career games.

Up Next
South Dakota State wraps up a two-game road trip this Saturday at Western Illinois. The Jackrabbits and Fighting Leathernecks tip at 7 p.m. from Macomb, Illinois.

-GoJacks.com-