KANSAS CITY, Mo. – South Dakota State stuck with Kansas City for nearly the entire contest, but the Roos made multiple clutch plays down the stretch to earn a 72-67 victory over the Jackrabbits in the Swinney Center on Thursday.Â
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SDSU's lone lead of the contest came with 16 minutes, 13 seconds remaining in the first half when a
William Kyle III layup put the Jackrabbits ahead 8-7. Kansas City responded by going on a 10-point scoring run to push its advantage to 17-8.Â
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That served as the Roos' biggest lead of the night. A pair of
Zeke Mayo free throws tied the score at 28 with 3:58 left in the half. The Roos came right back with five consecutive points and went into halftime up 35-33.Â
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Both sides started the second half slow offensively, however the Roos scored eight of the half's first 10 points to jump out to a 43-35 edge. SDSU whittled the margin down to 45-44 with 11:14 to play, but the Roos came back with five points to push their lead to six.Â
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William Kyle III dunk and
Charlie Easley 3-pointer on back-to-back possessions momentarily tied the game at 52 with 7:01 remaining. Just 17 seconds later, Kansas City's Cameron Faas converted on a three-point play, then Babacar Diallo followed with a layup to again give the Roos control.Â
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SDSU trailed by seven with less than four minutes on the clock. The Jackrabbits cut into the score and had it down to 62-61 after a
Luke Appel layup with 1:46 to play. The Roos' Khristion Courseault connected on jumpers on consecutive possessions and the Jacks were unable to reply with a field goal as Kansas City put the game out of reach.
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South Dakota State fell to 14-12 overall with the loss and 7-4 in conference play. Kansas City improved to 12-15 overall as well as 6-6 in league action. The defeat for the Jackrabbits to the Roos ended a 10-game winning streak in the series for SDSU.
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Notes
- Both teams shot just under 40% from the floor, but Kansas City finished with a 40-35 rebound edge. The Roos had 10 more field goal attempts than the Jacks before the final two minutes of the contest as SDSU tried to make a comeback.Â
- The Roos were strong at the free throw line as they went 18-for-21 (85.7%). SDSU was just 16 of 25 (64%).Â
- Kansas City was led in scoring by Courseault who scored 17 points which included an 8-for-8 clip at the charity stripe. Jamar Brown also recorded 16 points as well as a game-high 10 rebounds.Â
- Mayo led four SDSU double-digit scorers with 19 points. Kyle III registered 15 and tied his career high of five blocks. Easley scored 13 points, along with a team-high eight rebounds, and Appel added 11 points for the Jackrabbits.Â
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Up Next
The Jackrabbits close out their road trip on Saturday. SDSU travels to Omaha to face the Mavericks in a 7 p.m. meeting inside Baxter Arena.Â
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