Late Jaguar jumper sinks Jackrabbits in OT

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INDIANAPOLIS – A jumper with 1.8 seconds to play in overtime sank the South Dakota State men's basketball team at IUPUI on Wednesday evening as the Jackrabbits fell 85-83 to the Jaguars at Indiana Farmer's Coliseum.

SDSU (8-13, 1-5 Summit League) made 55.2 percent of its field goals and outscored IUPUI (9-11, 3-3 Summit League) in the paint, 52-38. The Jaguars shot 47.8 percent from the field and hit 11 3-pointers in the game.

]Michael Orris led the way with a career-high 20 points while A.J. Hess (14 points) and Ian Theisen (11 points) reached double figures as well. Mike Daum led the team with nine rebounds while just missing double digits, finishing with nine points.

Orris and the Jacks started hot from the field as SDSU hit all five of its field goal attempts with eight points from Orris to lead 13-9 in the opening five minutes of play.

Tied 15-all moments later, the teams traded baskets past the 11-minute mark before IUPUI went on an 11-2 run to force an SDSU timeout, down 30-21 with 9:05 to go in the half. Out of the pause, Theisen pulled the Jacks back within four, 30-26, with a 5-0 run of his own over the next minute of play.

Down seven at 35-28 with six minutes before the half, SDSU ran off six unanswered to climb back within one – 35-34 – on a Reed Tellinghuisen dunk at 4:56. IUPUI continued to lead, however, until the Jacks retied the game, 39-39, on a Hess layup at 1:34.

Tevin King's layup through traffic with nine seconds on the clock put SDSU ahead briefly, 43-42, but IUPUI's Darrell Combs made a 3-pointer as time expired to carry a 45-43 lead into the half.

Theisen and Orris paced the Jacks with a 11 and 10 points, respectively, as both went 4 of 4 on field goals and were perfect in their free throw attempts in the first half. Theisen hit three free throws as Orris had a pair.

South Dakota State shot 63 percent (17 of 27) from the field but hit just one 3-pointer in the opening frame. IUPUI was 8 of 14 beyond the arc and finished the half 51.5 percent from the field.

Andre Wallace's layup 21 seconds into the second half tied it, 45-45, before the team's traded spurts of five unanswered over the next four minutes.

Down two (52-50) near the 16-minute mark, neither team hit a field goal until 13:34 when a King putback ended the slump as part of a 7-0 SDSU run that forced an IUPUI timeout at 12:39 with the Jacks leading, 57-52.

IUPUI recovered with nine straight of its own to regain a 61-57 lead with 10:03 to play. Howell's layup at 9:51 ended the run, but the Jaguars continued to push and soon held a 65-59 lead at 8:22.

SDSU crawled back to within three (68-65) with 5:29 to play on a pair of Orris free throws, and saw the deficit reach two (70-68) 87 seconds later on a Hess 3-pointer.

The Jacks eventually tied it, 73-73, with 2:30 to play on another Orris layup. Inside a minute to play, SDSU and IUPUI traded the lead four times before Howell was fouled on a layup with eight seconds to play. His free throw tied things at 78, and though IUPUI's Matt O'Leary drew a foul with 1.0 on the clock and had a chance to win it, both shots fell off the rim to send the game to overtime.

After scoring just four points in regulation, Daum scored SDSU's first five points of overtime, but saw IUPUI match the Jackrabbit effort to leave the game tied, 83-83, with 1:25 to go.

As the clock wound down, Combs hit a jumper near the top of the key with a hand in his face, sealing the Jaguars' win with 1.5 seconds to go. SDSU was unable to get off a final shot.

SDSU coach T.J. Otzelberger

On tonight's game:

"I thought we took a little bit of a step forward, in terms of I thought our guys played hard from start to finish and we've talked about playing a full 40 minutes. I thought our guys played hard for 40 minutes, but at the same time if you're going to win a game, especially win a game on the road, you're going to have to make free throws and you're going to have to value the basketball. Those are things that I think, when you leave seven free throws on the table in the second half and have some key turnovers late you put yourself in a tough spot to win and that's what we did."

On balanced effort:

"I thought everyone that played gave us energy. I thought Tevin (King) and Lane (Severyn) gave us great energy and I thought Chris Howell scored the ball well and rebounded the ball well. I thought Ian came in and continues to score the ball well. Certainly those guys who came off the bench came in and did well."

On defensive strategy:

"We're trying a lot of different things to get our guys' energy levels as high as they can be so we can play as good as we possibly play. I thought there were times tonight we were really good in man, and times tonight we were really good in our 1-3-1. I thought both looks were effective for us and I thought in general we did a reasonable job of finishing plays and keeping them off the glass. But again, we shoot 55 percent on the road and it comes back down to the free throws and the turnovers tonight."

Game Notes

Michael Orris reached double figures for the third time in the last four games. He finished with a career-high 20 points … A.J. Hess blocked a career-high three shots in the game. That was the most blocks in a game for a Jackrabbit this season. … South Dakota State hit a season-low three 3-pointers in the game. … South Dakota State had a season-high five blocks as a team on the night. The last time SDSU had five or more blocks was at Denver on Jan. 30, 2016. … Mike Daum entered the night with 969 career points and is now 22 away from joining SDSU's 1,000 points club.

What's Next

South Dakota State is home Saturday to host Fort Wayne in a Summit League doubleheader for the 2017 Pork Classic. The Jacks and Mastodons tip at 4:30 p.m., after the women's game.