FORT WAYNE, Ind. – Mike Daum posted the nation's top scoring performance of the year and South Dakota State pulled out a 97-89 road win over IPFW on Saturday night in front of 1,521 fans at the Gates Center.
Daum scored 51 points to go with 15 rebounds for the Jackrabbits. He was 16-of-17 at the charity stripe and 14-of-29 from the field, including a 7-of-18 clip from downtown.
Joining Daum in double figures were Skyler Flatten, who had 14 with four 3-pointers, and Chris Howell, who finished with 12 points and six rebounds.
SDSU (14-16, 7-8 Summit League) shot 53.6 percent from the field and hit 26-of-30 free throw attempts, adding 11 3-pointers. The Mastodons hit 52.2 percent of their field goals with seven 3-pointers and a 10-of-13 effort at the line.
A frantic pace carried the teams through the opening half with 95 combined points as the Jacks went into the locker room down 48-47.
Trailing 19-12 past the 13-minute mark, SDSU scored nine straight over the next 90 seconds to take a 21-19 lead. From there, a pair of momentum swings put IPFW up eight before SDSU responded with a 14-4 run and led, 40-38, at 5:46. The final six minutes of the period saw pace of play slow, and State went to the break behind one.
SDSU opened the second on a 9-4 run to take the lead, and though IPFW regained control briefly with just over 16 minutes to play, 12 points from Daum in the next 4 minutes put the Jacks in the driver's seat past the 12-minute media timeout.
The Mastodons tied it two more times on the night, but the Jackrabbits never relinquished and led by as many as eight. Inside 2 minutes to go, IPFW cut the lead to one, 90-89, but SDSU scored the final seven points to pull out the win.
Head Coach T.J. Otzelberger
On tonight's game ...
"I feel like our guys really competed. That was a high level game and obviously a phenomenal individual scoring performance by Mike Daum; but I thought a lot of our guys really chipped in, made some really key plays defensively on the glass and finished some big plays in transition. Down the stretch we got some stops and that led us to victory."
On team fighting for a road win ...
"We talked tonight about three things before the game and winning on the road. No. 1 is rebounding, because when we win the rebounding battle we're going to be successful. No. 2 is making sure that we do a great job valuing the ball and No. 3 is making sure we get to the free-throw line. We did a great job with all three tonight."
On Mike Daum's performance ...
"He was great. Obviously he can really score the ball and he was phenomenal tonight. It was maybe the best individual performance I've seen out of a player in all my years of college coaching. I'm really proud of him."
On team's approach as season winds down ...
"We need to keep getting better, keep growing as a team. Our guys have really done that, put the extra time in and are really growing as a group. We can only control what's in front of us and each day our guys are improving."
Notes
South Dakota State has officially clinched a spot in the Summit League Men’s Basketball Championship in Sioux Falls.
Mike Daum's 51 points are the most for an NCAA Division I player this season. Central Michigan's Marcus Keene scored 50 against Miami (Ohio) on Jan. 21, 2016.
Daum is the second player in the last 20 years to have 50 points and 15 rebounds in a game, joining Grambling's Brion Rush who did it in 2006 (Per ESPN Stats and Info).
Daum is now 20th in SDSU history for points with 1,261 points. He passed Chad White (1,234) and Mark Schultz (1,259) on the night. Next up is Ron Wiblemo with 1,272 points.
Daum's 51 points are the second most in school history, trailing only Nate Wolters, who went for 53 points at IPFW on Feb. 7, 2013.
Chris Howell reached double figures for the fifth time in seven games.
Daum reset the school records for 3-point and free-throw attempts by an individual with 17 each, and tied his school record with 16 made free throws.
On 12 Saturday's this year, Daum has scored 373 points and grabbed 121 rebounds, good for averages of 31.1 points and 10.1 rebounds per game. He has seven 30-plus scoring performances on Saturday's this year as well.
What's Next
South Dakota State plays host to Denver on Saturday for Senior Night. Tipoff from Frost Arena is 4 p.m., in the final game of the regular season.
