Hahn lifts Nebraska-Omaha over Jackrabbits, 85-84

Staff reports
Posted 2/14/19

OMAHA, Neb. – Mitch Hahn’s bucket with 0.2 seconds remaining lifted Omaha over South Dakota State 85-84 Thursday night in a matchup of the Summit League’s top two men’s basketball teams.

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Hahn lifts Nebraska-Omaha over Jackrabbits, 85-84

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OMAHA, Neb. – Mitch Hahn’s bucket with 0.2 seconds remaining lifted Omaha over South Dakota State 85-84 Thursday night in a matchup of the Summit League’s top two men’s basketball teams.

The Mavericks rallied from a 16-point second-half deficit in front of a Baxter Arena record crowd of 4,228.

Hahn, a 6-foot-8 senior from Fremont, Neb., polished it off.

He took an inbounds pass with 5.7 seconds remaining and went the length of the court, hitting a contested 14-foot fadeaway jumper from the right side as the clock neared zero.

“It was a great atmosphere, we knew it would be; and they’re playing at a high level, so we knew we were going to have to be at our best to come in here and get a victory with the environment and with the momentum of the game,” said SDSU coach TJ Otzelberger. “We had about an 8- or 10-minute stretch early in the second half where it kind of got away from us. We got caught up in the momentum of the game and the crowd and the atmosphere instead of staying focused and intentional with what helped us build our lead and had us in control of the game.”

SDSU (20-7, 10-2), which had its nine-game winning streak snapped, now holds just a half-game lead over UNO (15-9, 9-2) in the conference standings.

Hahn finished with a team-high 22 points, grabbed eight rebounds and dished out seven assists.

Matt Pile scored 17 points on 8-of-9 shooting and added nine boards. KJ Robinson and Zach Jackson tallied 17 points apiece.

David Jenkins (34) and Mike Daum (29) combined for 63 points for the Jackrabbits as Jenkins tied his teammate’s single-game school record with 10 3-pointers.

Daum grabbed 12 rebounds to complete his double-double. He hit a trio of treys to break the school career record.

Daum was fouled with 5.7 seconds remaining and went to the free-throw line for a one-and-one. He sank both to put the visitors on top 84-83.

Daum scored 20 first-half points as the Jackrabbits led 43-30 at halftime.

A Jenkins 3-pointer made it 46-30 early in the second. He hit another 3 a minute later to make it 49-33, before UNO rattled of 18 consecutive points to move ahead 51-49 with 13:51 to play.

It was a back-and-forth affair from there.

Omaha’s lead twice reached six points, the latter occurrence coming at 73-67 with 6:03 showing on the clock.

Later, Jenkins dropped in back-to-back 3-balls to put SDSU on top 82-81 with 1:50 to play.

Robinson scored in the paint on the other end with 59 seconds left.

The Jackrabbits turned it over on their ensuing possession but then came through with a defensive stop before Daum hit the go-ahead foul shots.

UNO shot 50 percent (36-of-72) and SDSU 46 percent (29-of-63), including a 17-of-34 clip from deep.

The Mavericks shot 62.2 percent (23-of-37) in the second half. They had five turnovers in the game.

“In the second half, we just got a little bit too spread out,” noted Otzelberger. “I think in the first half our guys were dialed in to what we needed to do and I thought our hands were active with deflections. They’re a good team, they don’t turn the ball over a whole lot but I thought we put them in some really tough spots (in the first half).

“In the second half, some of our shot selections led to their transition, but even in the half court there were too many times where they were able to score it at the rim; some and-1s; some offensive rebounds – just baskets that, if you’re going to win a game like this, you can’t have happen.”

South Dakota State takes on fourth-place North Dakota State (14-12, 8-4) on Saturday at 4 p.m. in Fargo, N.D. Omaha is host to third-place Purdue Fort Wayne (17-10, 9-3) on Saturday at 4:30 p.m.

“(Omaha) is a good team and we knew they’re a good team,” added Otzelberger. “It will be an exciting race for the conference championship.

“I have nothing but confidence in our guys and hopefully we’ll use this to our favor.”

Notes: Daum now has 257 career 3-pointers, breaking Reed Tellinghuisen’s SDSU record of 256 (from 2014-18). He 14th in Summit League history. … Daum moved from 14th to 13th in NCAA Division I history with 2,912 career points, passing Houston’s Elvin Hayes (2,884 from 1965-68). He is eight points behind second-place Alan Miller on the South Dakota collegiate list. … Daum has 1,165 career rebounds – 23 off the league record. … Daum hit 10 3s versus IPFW on Jan. 21, 2017. … The Jackrabbits beat the Mavericks 83-73 in the first meeting this season Jan. 26 in Brookings. … Jenkins has 93 3-pointers this season – three off Daum’s record.

OMAHA 85, SOUTH DAKOTA STATE 84

South Dakota State (20-7, 10-2 Summit)

David Jenkins 12-21 0-1 34, Mike Daum 9-23 8-9 29, Skyler Flatten 4-8 0-0 10, Alex Arians 2-4 0-0 5, Tevin King 1-4 0-0 3, Matt Dentlinger 1-2 1-1 3, Owen King 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 29-63 9-11 84.

Omaha (15-9, 9-2 Summit)

Mitch Hahn 9-13 0-2 22, Zach Jackson 7-18 2-2 17, Matt Pile 8-9 1-3 17, KJ Robinson 7-13 1-2 17, JT Gibson 3-13 0-0 7, Ayo Akinwole 2-4 0-0 5, Wanjang Tut 0-0 0-0 0, Brett Barney 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 36-72 4-9 85.

Halftime – SDSU 43-30. 3-point goals – SDSU 17-34 (Jenkins 10-15, Daum 3-8, Flatten 2-6, Arians 1-2, T. King 1-2, O. King 0-1), UNO 9-27 (Hahn 4-5, Robinson 2-6, Akinwole 1-3, Jackson 1-5, Gibson 1-6, Barney 0-2). Rebounds – SDSU 38 (Daum 12), UNO 35 (Pile 9). Assists – SDSU 16 (Flatten, T. King 4), UNO 19 (Hahn 7). Steals – SDSU 5 (Flatten 2), UNO 5 (Pile 2). Blocks – SDSU 1 (Daum 1), UNO 2 (Pile 2). Turnovers – SDSU 12, UNO 5. Total fouls – SDSU 16, UNO 18. Fouled out – none. Technical fouls – none. A – 4,228.