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Mike Daum, Jackrabbits beat Omaha 79-77 in Summit League title game

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SIOUX FALLS – South Dakota State is peaking at the right time, and the Jackrabbits were awarded with a Summit League Men’s Basketball Championship title.

Mike Daum earned his second consecutive Tournament MVP award after posting a double-double of 37 points and 12 rebounds as SDSU edged Omaha 79-77 in the final Tuesday night in front of 9,441 fans at the PREMIER Center.

“Obviously, tonight was another game that was challenging for us early; we didn’t get off to the start we would have liked at the beginning of the game or after halftime,” said first-year SDSU head coach T.J. Otzelberger. “But as the game settled in in both halves, I thought our guys really locked in defensively and we’ve talked about the rebounding and how if we could really rebound that things would go well for us. We had a great margin tonight (plus-19 – 44-29).

“I’m just really proud of these guys and how they’ve come together and how they’ve persevered through all the adversity through the year. I think, again, these games are very representative of our season and I couldn’t be happier to be the coach of these great guys.”

The Jackrabbits were 2-6 and in last place in the standings at the midpoint of the conference schedule.

Now they’ve won nine of 11, including six straight, to move from the cellar to the summit and earn their fourth NCAA Tournament bid in six years (second consecutively).

Daum said despite the rough start in league play, the team never stopped believing.

“It was a tough time when we were (2-6) looking back on it, but our guys did such a good job of not blaming each other and not blaming the coaching staff for what was going on,” the sophomore and Summit League Player of the Year said. “We just kind of put our selfish wants aside, and we just stuck together as a group and we started to just really play together and click well.”

Reed Tellinghuisen added that the team is a lot closer now.

“We’re playing together better,” anoted the junior, who earned all-tournament recognition. “Our defense has obviously improved quite a bit and, like I said, we’re just a lot closer as a group.”

SDSU (18-16) moved above .500 for the first time this season following a 74-71 defeat of South Dakota the night before.

Nine of the Jackrabbits’ 11 first-half turnovers came in the opening 9 1/2 minutes as the Mavericks led by as many as nine points – 16-7 – early on.

But a 7-0 spurt before halftime, which included five points from Daum and two by Lane Severyn, gave SDSU a 37-31 cushion heading to the locker room.

However, UNO came out of the break with a 9-0 run as Marcus Tyus hit a 3-pointer and added a traditional three-point play, and Tre’Shawn Thurman connected from deep to make it 40-37 with 19:08 remaining.

Neither team led by more than five after that.

Omaha scored six straight points to grab a 72-68 advantage with 5 minutes to go. Thurman got it going with a basket, while Zach Jackson and Tra-Deon Hollins added two free throws apiece.

Daum hit a jumper with 4:46 showing on the clock and then, following a media timeout, buried a deep contested 3-ball to put the Jackrabbits on top for good at 73-72 with 3:34 to go.

Daum scored again down low and Chris Howell converted a short jumper as SDSU moved ahead 77-72 with 1:59 to play.

Hollins cut the deficit to three with a bucket with 1:38 left but Daum made a pair of foul shots on the other end with 1:08 remaining.

Omaha’s Mitch Hahn canned a 3 to pull the Mavericks within 79-77 with 59 seconds showing on the clock.

Both teams came up empty on their ensuing possessions, and Howell was fouled with 9 seconds to play.

He missed the front end of a 1-and-1 and Hollins quickly took possession. He dribbled the length of the floor and got a decent look from 3-point range on the right win.

The shot rimmed off and time expired.

The NCAA Tournament Selection Show is Sunday at 4:30-6 p.m. and will air live on CBS.

Notes: Third-seeded Omaha dropped to 18-14. The Mavericks scored 33 points off 19 Jackrabbit turnovers and totaled 13 steals. … Daum’s 37 points are tied for the second most in the history of the Summit League tournament. Wright State’s Billy Edwards dropped in 38 in the title game versus Illinois-Chicago in 1993. … SDSU also won tourney titles in 2012, 2013 and 2016, while finishing as runner-up in 2015. … The Jackrabbits improved to 17-5 in Summit League tournament games. … Daum moved up one spot to 15th on SDSU’s all-time scoring list with 1,379 points (20.28 average). He pushed his season point total to 861 (25.32 average), still the second most in league history behind Oakland’s Reggie Hamilton, who had 942 points in 36 games (26.17 average) in 2011-12. … This season’s men’s tourney drew a record 39,912 fans. The overall total of 61,004 is the second highest all-time.

SOUTH DAKOTA STATE 79, OMAHA 77

South Dakota State (18-16)

Mike Daum 14-24 4-4 37, Lane Severyn 0-3 2-2 2, Chris Howell 4-4 4-5 12, Reed Tellinghuisen 4-13 2-2 11, Michael Orris 3-5 0-0 6, Skyler Flatten 1-5 0-0 3, Tevin King 1-2 1-1 3, A.J. Hess 0-1 0-0 0, Ian Theisen 2-3 0-0 5. Totals 29-60 13-14 79.

Omaha (18-14)

Tre-Shawn Thurman 8-12 3-6 21, Mitch Hahn 4-6 2-2 14, Zach Jackson 2-5 3-3 7, Marcus Tyus 6-13 4-6 17, Tra-Deon Hollins 7-17 2-3 18, Daniel Norl 0-5 0-0 0, Daniel Meyer 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 27-59 14-20 77.

Halftime – SDSU 37-31. 3-point goals – SDSU 8-25 (Daum 5-9, Theisen 1-2, Flatten 1-5, Tellinghuisen 1-6, Hess 0-1, Severyn 0-2), UNO 9-23 (Hahn 4-6, Thurman 2-2, Hollins 2-7, Tyus 1-4, Norl 0-2, Jackson 0-2). Rebounds – SDSU 44 (Daum 12), UNO 25 (Thurman 8). Assists – SDSU 11 (Orris 4), UNO 7 (Hollins 3). Steals – SDSU 2 (Severyn, King 1), UNO 13 (Tyus 5). Blocks – SDSU 2 (King 2), UNO 4 (Thurman 2). Turnovers – SDSU 19, UNO 9. Total fouls – SDSU 17, UNO 16. Fouled out – Thurman. Technical fouls – none. A – 9,441.

All-Tournament Team

Mike Daum, South Dakota State (MVP); Reed Tellinghuisen, South Dakota State; Tre’Shawn Thurman, Omaha; Tra-Deon Hollins, Omaha; Matt Mooney, South Dakota.