BROOKINGS – It was a battle of the top-two teams in the Summit League Wednesday night in Frost Arena as South Dakota State and North Dakota State squared off.
SDSU came out on top 78-73 and is now in first place in the Summit League at 15-8 overall and 6-2 in the Summit League. The Jacks were coming off one of their more disappointing losses of the season when they lost to South Dakota 99-84 Sunday. SDSU let USD shoot 64.4% from the field and 71.4% from three. Tonight, they held NDSU to 22 points in the first half and had an especially good first half defensively as the Bison shot 48.3% from the field and 28.6% from three.
“I think I put too much in our guys’ mind [against USD] and they just didn’t play with as much confidence on Sunday. We kept our plan a little more simple today and we were able to just go out there and play aggressive and play free and play for each other. I think that’s a big part of it, so that one can go on me,” SDSU head coach Eric Henderson said.
The Jacks jumped out to an 8-3 lead with 16 minutes left in the first half and would never relinquish the lead again in the game. They slowly built their lead in the first half and took a 34-22 lead into halftime.
The Bison fought back in the second half and cut the lead to 39-34 three minutes into the second half. The closest NDSU would get would be three points the rest of the game. The dagger came with 2:49 left when Noah Friedel hit a three to make it 67-60. The Jacks hit nine of their final 12 free throws to put the game on ice.
Douglas Wilson, who missed the USD game with a knee injury, made his return Wednesday and proved that he is probably the most important player for SDSU. Wilson had 20 points and four rebounds and said it was great to be back on the floor.
Alex Arians stuffed the stat sheet against the Bison. He had 14 points, 11 rebounds and six assists. Arians has started at point guard for the past eight games due to an injury to Brandon Key. Last season he was the Jacks’ starting power forward and Henderson said they decided to try him at point guard because he is so versatile.
“We talked about it and Baylor [Scheierman] has played some point guard as well and we didn’t feel like Alex was playing as well as he could of. Up until that point, we always thought that we could get more out of him. At the end of the day we were like ‘let’s try it and see if he is able to do more from this position’ and obviously it took us too long,” Henderson said.
Henderson added that Arians won’t be playing as many minutes at point guard once Key gets fully healthy. Matt Dentlinger had his second-straight game with more than 20 points. He had 26 points against USD and had 21 points Wednesday.
Coming into the game, Vinnie Shahid was NDSU’s leading scorer. He was averaging 16.6 points per game and was shooting 41% from the field. The Jacks held Shahid to 12 points and he was 4-16 from the field and 2-10 from three. SDSU put Arians and sophomore Matt Mims on him for most of the game.
“Vinnie is a great player and he initiates a lot of their offense, so we wanted to get the ball out of Vinnie’s hands early and it’s a lot easier said then done. I think Alex did a great job on him to start and then what can you say about Matt Mims. He comes in and defensively he was a bulldog. So I’m really proud of how he’s continued to stay resilient and has continued to step up to the challenge when his number has been called,” Henderson said.
Tyson Ward led the Bison with 24 points, eight rebounds and five assists. Rocky Kreuser had 18 points and four rebounds. Tyree Eady had eight points and Hunter had six.
The Jacks have now won 20-straight games at Frost Arena. That is the second-longest home winning streak in the country only behind Gonzaga who has won 34 games in-a-row. The Jacks are also 115-6 at Frost Arena in the last nine seasons, which is .950 winning percentage which is the best in the country in that span.
There were 3,011 people who attended Wednesday’s game, which is pretty good for a week night. Arians said it felt a little bit like a Summit League Tournament game.
“We know we’re going to get every team’s best shot, whether it’s home or away, but I think huge advangtage we have is the fans. The environment in Frost is an advantage and no other team in the conference has it. … We feed off all the fans energy and I think it really showed tonight,” he said.
Up next, the Jacks will begin a two-game road trip. Their first game will be Jan. 29th at Oral Roberts. They will then face Western Illinois in Macomb, Ill. on Feb. 1st.
SOUTH DAKOTA STATE 78, NORTH DAKOTA STATE 73
North Dakota State (13-7, 4-2)
Tyson Ward 11-15 0-0 24, Rocky Kreuser 7-12 1-2 18, Vinnie Shahid 4-16 2-2 12, Tyree Eady 3-6 1-2 8, Cameron Hunter 2-4 0-1 6, Tyler Witz 2-2 0-0 4, Jared Samuelson 0-2 1-2 1, Chris Quayle 0-2 0-1 0, Jaxon Knotek 0-1 0-0 0, Maleeck Harden-Hayes 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 29-60 5-9 73.
South Dakota State (15-8, 6-2)
Matt Dentlinger 10-13 1-2 21, Douglas Wilson 10-15 0-2 20, Alex Arians 3-10 7-8 14, Matt Mims 2-4 5-6 10, Noah Freidel 2-5 2-4 8, Baylor Scheierman 2-2 0-0 5, David Wingett 0-3 0-0 0, Alou Dillon 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 29-52 15-22 78.
Halftime – 34-22 SDSU. 3-point field goals – NDSU 10-31 (Kreuser 3-6, Hunter 2-4, Eady 1-2, Ward 2-5, Shahid 2-10, Knotek 0-1, Quayle 0-2, Samuelson 0-2), SDSU 5-14 (Scheierman 1-1, Mims 1-3, Arians 1-4, Freidel 2-4, Wingett 0-2). Rebounds – NDSU 25 (Ward 8), SDSU 35 (Arians 11). Assists – NDSU 13 (Ward 5), SDSU (Arians 6). Steals – NDSU 3 (Eady 2), SDSU 2 (Wilson, Wingett). Blocks – NDSU 3 (Kreuser, Eady, Witz), SDSU 4 (Dentlinger, Wilson, Freidel, Wingett). Turnovers – NDSU 6, SDSU 8. Total fouls – NDSU 22, SDSU 14. Fouled out – none. Technical fouls – NDSU Hunter, SDSU Freidel. A – 3,011.
