Jackrabbits roll over Bison to advance to Summit title game

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SIOUX FALLS – Top-seeded South Dakota State twice built a 24-point lead in the first half and then withstood North Dakota State’s mid-game rally during a 78-57 semifinal victory in the Summit League Men’s Basketball Championship on Monday night at the PREMIER Center.

Trailing 38-14 with 2 minutes to play in the first half, the Bison went on a 17-1 run to pull within 39-31 with 17:28 remaining in the contest.

However, that would be as close as they’d get as the Jackrabbits countered with a 16-6 spurt and never looked back.

“Our guys, I would say, just stuck together, no matter what,” Mike Daum said in reference to NDSU’s run. “We know that basketball’s a game of momentum swings and it’s just going to be the team that stays together the most, and I thought our guys just did a great job of not losing our minds when they went on that run and we kind of went scoreless there for a little bit.

“But our guys just stuck together; we knew what we needed to do and when we buckled down and got stops, that really led to us just getting some good paint touches on offense and scoring.”

Later, an 18-2 run pushed the advantage to a game-high 30 points – 75-45 – with 5:35 left.

“I’m really pleased with the effort our group came out with defensively,” said SDSU coach T.J. Otzelberger. “I think for our team, when we can defend like that, it really gets our flow and our pace going offensively. So I’m proud of our guys.

“The Bison are a really good team. I though Coach (David) Richman did a great job at halftime making some adjustments. He’s a really good coach, we have a lot of respect for their program and we were fortunate in that second half that our guys kind of kicked it back in defensively to get our offense going and get us some separation.”

SDSU shot 48.3 percent (29-of-60) from the field and limited NDSU to 34.5 percent (19-of-55).

David Jenkins Jr., coming off a 1-for-10 performance in his tournament debut, dropped in a game-high 24 points on 10-of-15 shooting against the Bison.

“What we’ve seen from David throughout the course of the year, there has been a lot of talk – there’s a couple-game stretch, did he have a freshman slump, did he bounce back, all those things,” Otzelberger noted. “What I’ve come to really appreciate about David is he takes such a great sense of pride in playing for his teammates and he knows a big part of what we need him to do night in and night out is score the basketball.

“When you have confidence in your players and belief in them, I just wanted him to make sure how much I believed in him and on the biggest stage he was going to have some great moments. I trust him and I believe in him, and I knew he was going to bounce back.

“I’m happy to see the way he played tonight.”

Daum totaled 19 points and 11 rebounds for his 20th double-double of the season and 31st of his career. The junior broke the single-season school record for 3-pointers.

Skyler Flatten and Tevin King added eight points apiece, Brandon Key six, and Reed Tellinghuisen and Lane Severyn both five.

Four players reached double figures for the Bison (15-17), led by Tyson Ward’s 15 points. Paul Miller added 14, Cameron Hunter 11 and A.J. Jacobson 10.

Rubber match

The much-anticipated South Dakota State-South Dakota final was set up following the Coyotes’ defeat of Denver on Monday night.

USD won 87-68 Jan. 24 in Vermillion, handing the Jackrabbits their lone league loss.

SDSU won 76-72 Feb. 22 in Brookings to clinch their first outright regular-season title.

The Jackrabbits dropped the Coyotes 78-65 in the 2015 semifinals. SDSU knocked off top-seeded USD 74-71 in last year’s semis.

Top of the Summit

The two-time defending-champion Jackrabbits advanced to the final for the fourth year in a row and sixth time overall. They also won titles in 2012 and 2013.

SDSU improved to 19-5 in 10 tournament appearances. It has won 10 of its last 11 tourney games, including eight consecutively.

The Jackrabbits are 5-0 under Otzelberger.

In addition to this year’s outright title, SDSU shared regular-season championships in 2012-13, 2014-15 and 2015-16, earning the No. 1 seed in 2013 and 2015.

SDSU vs. NDSU

The Jackrabbits are 3-1 versus the Bison in the Summit League tournament.

SDSU beat NDSU 73-67 in the 2013 final and 67-59 in the 2016 title game. The Bison prevailed 57-56 in the 2015 finale.

Other finals

SDSU topped Western Illinois 52-50 in overtime in 2012 and Omaha 79-77 in 2017.

Wins

SDSU (27-6) tied the school record for wins in a season. The 2003-04 squad went 27-7 (pre-Division I) and the 2011-12 team finished 27-8 under head coach Scott Nagy.

The Jackrabbits have won 18 of their past 19 games, including 10 straight.

3-point frenzy

• Daum now has 86s treys this season, breaking the school record of 85 set by Austin Hansen in 2002-03 and matched by Andy Moeller in 2003-04. He has 194 in his career.

• Tellinghuisen remained second all-time at SDSU with 251 (58-60-74-59) career 3-pointers – one behind Clint Sargent (252 from 2007-11).

• Jenkins has 79 3-balls this year, tied for the fifth most in a year for a Jackrabbit.

• The Jackrabbits have 347 3-pointers, breaking last season’s school-record mark of 318. The previous record was 284 in 2011-12.

Notes: Daum remained ninth in points (2,180) and 11th in rebounds (834) in Summit League history. He’s five points behind eighth and seven rebounds out of ninth. … Daum is averaging a double-double of 23.76 points (784 total) and 10.36 rebounds (342 total) in 33 games this year. … SDSU beat NDSU three times in the same season for the first time since 1979-80. … Miller and Jacobson are the Bison’s lone seniors. Miller totaled 605 points this season, becoming the fifth player in school history to top 600. Miller (1,719) ended up fifth and Jacobson (1,355) 20th on NDSU’s career scoring list.

SOUTH DAKOTA STATE 78, NORTH DAKOTA STATE 57

North Dakota State (15-17)

Paul Miller 4-14 5-6 14, A.J. Jacobson 4-7 0-0 10, Cameron Hunt 3-8 4-4 11, Tyson Ward 5-12 5-7 15, Spencer Eliason 0-2 0-0 0, Jared Samuelson 0-3 0-0 0, Chris Quayle 0-2 0-0 0, Deng Geu 2-5 0-0 4, Rocky Kreuser 1-2 0-0 3. Totals 19-55 14-17 57.

South Dakota State (27-6)

Skyler Flatten 3-4 0-0 8, Tevin King 3-5 2-5 8, David Jenkins Jr. 10-15 2-3 24, Reed Tellinghuisen 1-6 3-4 5, Mike Daum 7-15 3-3 19, Brandon Key 3-6 0-0 6, Chris Howell 1-2 0-2 3, Beau Brown 0-1 0-0 0, Lane Severyn 1-3 2-2 5, Ian Theisen 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 29-60 12-19 78.

Halftime – SDSU 38-20. 3-point goals – NDSU 5-24 (Jacobson 2-3, Kreuser 1-2, Hunter 1-3, Miller 1-8, Quayle 0-1, Geu 0-1, Ward 0-3, Samuelson 0-3), SDSU 8-25 (Flatten 2-3, Daum 2-5, Jenkins 2-6, Howell 1-1, Severyn 1-1, King 0-1, Key 0-1, Brown 0-1, Tellinghuisen 0-3, Theisen 0-3). Rebounds – NDSU 33 (Miller 5), SDSU 39 (Daum 11). Assists – NDSU 6 (Hunter 3), SDSU 12 (King 5). Steals – NDSU 4 (Miller, Ward, Eliason, Geu 1), SDSU 5 (Flatten 2). Blocks – NDSU 1 (Jacobson), SDSU 1 (Flatten). Turnovers – NDSU 12, SDSU 8. Total fouls – NDSU 17, SDSU 15. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – None. A – 8,835.

 South Dakota 76, Denver 58

The Coyotes took control with an early 22-4 run to advance to their first Summit League final.

Trailing 5-4, the big run made it 26-9. USD was ahead 47-25 at halftime and its lead reached 26 points three times – 65-39 with 8:57 remaining, 67-41 at the 6:53 mark and 69-43 with 5:12 to play.

Matt Mooney scored 20 points on 8-of-10 shooting.

Triston Simpson added 11 points, Tyler Hagedorn 10, Nick Fuller eight, Tyler Peterson and Brandon Armstrong seven apiece, and Trey Burch-Manning six.

The Coyotes shot 52.7 percent (29-of-55) from the field and limited the Pioneers to 32.8 percent (22-of-67).

Denver’s Daniel Amigo posted a double-double of 16 points and 12 rebounds in his final collegiate game.

SOUTH DAKOTA 76, DENVER 58

Denver (15-14)

Ade Murkey 2-10 6-7 10, Joe Rosga 2-13 0-0 5, Jake Pemberton 2-5 0-0 4, Daniel Amigo 7-16 1-2 16, Elvin Rodriguez 1-6 2-2 4, Jake Holtzmann 0-2 0-0 0, Luke Neff 1-2 0-0 3, Thomas Neff 0-1 0-0 0, Christian Mackey 2-3 0-0 4, Emil Knighton 1-1 0-0 2, Donoven Carlisle 1-1 0-0 2, Abiola Akintola 2-2 0-0 4. Totals 22-67 11-13 58.

South Dakota (25-7)

Triston Simpson 5-8 0-0 11, Trey Burch-Manning 2-5 2-2 6, Matt Mooney 8-10 2-2 20, Tyler Peterson 2-6 2-5 7, Tyler Hagedorn 4-10 0-0 10, Stanley Umude 0-0 0-0 0, Jack Stensgard 0-0 0-0 0, Carlton Hurst 1-2 0-0 2, Joshua Doss 0-0 0-0 0, Josh Williams 0-1 0-0 0, Brandon Armstrong 3-5 0-0 7, Logan Power 1-1 0-0 3, Nick Fuller 2-5 4-6 8, Austin Spars 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 29-55 10-15 76.

Halftime – USD 47-25. 3-point goals – UD 3-20 (L. Neff 1-2, Rodriguez 1-3, Rosga 1-7, Holtzman 0-1, T. Neff 0-1, Pemberton 0-2, Krafka 0-2, Rodriguez 0-2), USD 8-18 (Mooney 2-3, Hagedorn 2-3, Power 1-1, Simpson 1-3, Peterson 1-3, Armstrong 1-3, Williams 0-1, Fuller 0-1). Rebounds – UD 41 (Amigo 12), USD 34 (Burch-Manning, Fuller 5). Assists – UD 6 (Holtzmann 2), USD 12 (Mooney 3). Steals – UD 3 (Rodriguez 2), SDSU 7 (Mooney, Sparks 2). Blocks – UD 7 (Murkey, Amigo 3), USD 5 (Hagedorn 2). Turnovers – UD 12, USD 10. Total fouls – UD 14, USD 18. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – None.