BROOKINGS – The South Dakota State men's basketball team was trailing 33-32 at halftime before shooting 63% in the second half to top the North Alabama 78-73 at Frost Arena Tuesday night.

SDSU (4-2) went 12-19 from the field in the second half and 5-9 on three pointers. Matt Dentlinger led the Jackarabbits with 17 points and 11 rebounds on the night.

“No doubt, we were much better in the second half,” said SDSU head coach Eric Henderson. “I actually thought that was probably the best offensive half we’ve had all year to be honest with you. A lot of it had to do with, we we’re getting paint touches and throwing it to [Matt Dentlinger] down low. We were kind of running the offense through him and when you play inside-out, a lot better things can happen and your shots go in a little more often and you could see that tonight.”

It was a back and forth first half. North Alabama (2-3) jumped out to a 9-3 lead in the first four minutes of the game. SDSU would use a 10-0 run to take a 13-9 lead with 13 minutes left. Neither team had a bigger lead than four the rest of the first half.

The Jacks led 43-38 early in the second half, but the Lions cut the lead to 52-51 with 11:03 left in the game. That’s when SDSU went on a 9-0 run to give them a 10-point lead with seven minutes left, which would be the highest of the game.

The teams would trade baskets until the Lions cut the lead to 70-65 with two minutes left. Noah Freidel and Brandon Key each hit a three pointer  and Key hit two free throws to ice the game.

It was a big night for the Jackrabbits starters as four of the five scored more than 10 points. Key finished with 18 points, five rebounds and four assists. Freidel finished with a career-high 13 points and Douglas Wilson had 13 points and nine rebounds.

SDSU shot 49% for the game and North Alabama shot 45%. The Jacks outrebounded the Lions 40-24 with 11 offensive rebounds and 17 second chance points.

“That’s what we want our identity to be. We want to make sure we’re winning the rebounding battle more times than not. When we do that, we feel like it will give us a good opportunity to win, especially if we take care of the basketball,” Henderson said.

SDSU committed 18 turnovers on the night and Henderson said he feels like through the first six games his team has been careless with the basketball.

“I’m not going to use any excuses. We just need to be better. We were certainly better in the second half. We weren’t great, but we need to continue to work on that,” he said.

The Jacks will head to Tuscon, Ariz. next to take on the Arizona Wildcats at 8 p.m. on Thursday.

SOUTH DAKOTA STATE 78, NORTH ALABAMA 73

North Alabama (2-3)

Jabari Blackmon 9-17 4-4 26, James Anderson 5-7 2-2 16, Payton Youngblood 4-10 2-3 11, Emanuel Littles 4-6 0-1 8, Cameron Diggs 2-4 0-0 4, Christian Agnew 1-5 1-2 4, Travon King 1-1 0-0 2, C.J. Brim 1-4 0-0 2, Mervin James 0-5 0-0 0, Aleska Matic 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 27-60 9-12 73

South Dakota State (4-2)

Brandon Key 4-8 7-8 18, Matt Dentlinger 5-10 7-8 17, Noah Freidel 4-8 2-2 13, Douglas Wilson 4-5 5-9 13, Baylor Scheierman 3-4 1-2 7, Alex Arians 2-5 1-2 5, David Wingett 1-6 2-2 5, Tray Buchannan 0-1 0-0 0, Owen King 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-47 25-33 78.

Halftime: 33-32 North Alabama. Three-point field goals – UNA 10-23 (Anderson 4-6, Blackmon 4-8, Agnew 1-2, Youngblood 1-4, James 0-1, Brim 0-1, Matic 0-1), SDSU 7-17 (Key 3-5, Friedel 3-7, Wingett 1-4, Arians 0-1). Rebounds – UNA 24 (Littles 8), SDSU 40 (Dentlinger 11). Assists – UNA 12 (Youngblood 4), SDSU 12 (Key, Dentlinger 4). Steals – UNA 4 (Anderson, Youngblood 2), SDSU 3 (Freidel 2). Blocks – UNA 2 (Anderson, King 1), SDSU 3 (Dentlinger, Scheierman, Wingett 1). Turnovers – UNA 10, SDSU 18. Total fouls – UNA 25, SDSU 14. Technical fouls – none. A – 1,616