BROOKINGS – Mike Daum scored a game-high 27 points and Reed Tellinghuisen added 24 as South Dakota State handed Oral Roberts its first Summit League loss of the season, 78-75, on Thursday night at Frost Arena.
The Golden Eagles led for much of the first half, opening up a nine-point advantage – 25-16 – with 7 minutes to play.
Daum and Brandon Key sparked a Jackrabbit rally – the former had 11 points in the final 5:44 of the half, including a late 3-pointer that put the home team on top 35-34 at the break, and the latter dished out five assists.
SDSU started the game 6-of-21 from the field, but made six of its final eight shots in the half.
The Jackrabbits opened the second stanza with an 11-2 run.
Tellinghuisen and Daum had back-to-back buckets. Skyler Flatten added a pair of free throws following a steal – ORU’s first turnover of the game – to make it 41-34.
Later, David Jenkins Jr. hit a jumper and added a trey to push the margin to 46-36 with 17 1/2 minutes remaining.
However, Oral Roberts hung around and eventually pulled within one – 75-74 – on a Sam Kearns layup with 2:34 showing on the clock.
Jenkins made 2-of-2 free throws on the other end, making it 77-74. Kearns’ free throw with 1:15 left cut the deficit to 77-75.
A pair of offensive rebounds – the latter corralled by Tevin King – allowed the Jackrabbits to run the clock down to 6.6 seconds, when Jenkins was fouled. He went 1-of-2 at the stripe to put SDSU on top 78-75.
The Golden Eagles’ long pass was tipped and then stolen by Daum to seal the deal.
“First of all, that’s a really good Oral Roberts team; very well coached; great size and length,” said SDSU coach T.J. Otzelberger. “There is a reason they won their first three league games.
“We knew coming in that they were going to try to pound the ball inside and be physical. I thought at times, certainly to start the second half, I really liked how we defended. And then they had a stretch where they really scored it. But all-in-all, I’m really proud of our group. We outrebounded that team (37-34), and for our guys that’s a challenge, because that’s a big physical group.
“I thought we had multiple players step up in key moments. Obviously, Tellinghuisen and Daum scored the ball really well, but Brandon Key came in and gave us a huge spark – we were down nine when he entered the game and we went to the half up one.
“And then the plays at the end by Mike Daum with the offensive rebound deflection and then with Tevin King with the gutsy rebound in traffic; it’s just one of those wins – gritty and everybody was a big contributor.”
SDSU pushed its winning streak to six, as the Jackrabbits have won 14 in a row at home.
Daum added 12 rebounds to complete his Division I-era school-record tying 20th double-double, including ninth this season.
Jenkins scored 13 of his 15 points in the second half. Flatten finished with seven markers and King five. Key dished out seven dimes in 18 minutes of action.
Oral Roberts dropped to 7-12 (3-1).
South Dakota State (15-5, 3-0) is host to Denver in the Lamb Bonanza on Saturday at 2 p.m.
Notes: SDSU wasn’t whistled for a foul until the 4:51 mark of the first half. … There was no stoppage in the final 4:26 of the first half, as the under-4 media timeout was bypassed. … ORU did not have a turnover in the first half and finished the game with four. … Daum went 5-of-5 at the foul line and is now 27-of-27 in conference play this season. … Daum has 1,865 career points. … Tellinghuisen moved from 21st to 17th in career points at SDSU with 1,290. He made his 112th career start and 124th career appearance.
SOUTH DAKOTA STATE 78, ORAL ROBERTS 75
Oral Roberts (7-12, 3-1 Summit)
Sam Kearns 3-12 1-2 8, Emmanuel Nzekwesi 3-6 1-2 8, R.J. Fuqua 3-10 0-0 6, Javan White 6-11 1-2 13, Chris Miller 7-9 0-0 14, Austin Ruder 2-8 0-0 6, Jontay Harris 3-4 0-0 8, Albert Owens 5-8 2-2 12. Totals 32-68 5-8 75.
South Dakota State (15-5, 3-0 Summit)
Skyler Flatten 2-5 2-2 7, Tevin King 1-1 2-2 5, David Jenkins Jr. 5-13 3-4 15, Reed Tellinghuisen 9-17 4-6 24, Mike Daum 9-20 5-5 27, Brandon Key 0-0 0-0 0, Chris Howell 0-0 0-0 0, Lane Severyn 0-2 0-0 0, Ian Theisen 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 26-59 16-19 78.
Halftime – SDSU led 35-34. 3-point goals – ORU 6-22 (Harris 2-3, Ruder 2-7, Nzekwesi 1-2, Kearns 1-7, Fuqua 0-3), SDSU 10-27 (Daum 4-7, Tellinghuisen 2-6, Jenkins 2-7, King 1-1, Flatten 1-4, Severyn 0-2). Rebounds – ORU 34 (White 8), SDSU 37 (Daum 12). Assists – ORU 14 (Kearns 5), SDSU 15 (Key 7). Steals – ORU 7 (Kearns 3), SDSU 3 (Flatten, Daum, Theisen 1). Blocks – ORU 3 (Nzekwesi, Miller, Owens 1), SDSU 2 (Flatten, Daum 1). Turnovers – ORU 4, SDSU 9. Total fouls – ORU 18, SDSU 10. Fouled out – none. Technical fouls – none. A – 2,221.
