BROOKINGS – The South Dakota State Jackrabbits didn’t have enough on Saturday night as a wide gap on the boards and the continuation of their turnover issues played key roles in their 93-82 loss to Stephen F. Austin at Frost Arena in Brookings.

The Lumberjacks outrebounded the Jackrabbits 33-16 and with 20 turnovers, SDSU’s offense never could find a rhythm against a team looking to avenge an 83-71 loss in Nacogdoches, Texas last season.

“They’re a program that has a lot of pride,” SDSU head coach Eric Henderson said of the Lumberjacks. “I know they’ve had this one circled on their calendar for a long time and so have we. I have a lot of respect for what they do and how they do things. I knew this was going to be a challenge and they were going to come in and really try to rattle our cages.”

The Jackrabbits and Lumberjacks battled through the first half with SDSU going into halftime down 44-41. SFA used a run early in the second half to jump ahead 56-47 with 14:18 remaining but the Jackrabbits eventually tied the game at 60 thanks to a three-pointer from Zeke Mayo with 10 minutes to go.

SFA made their move from there, using an 11-0 run to take control of the game. The run lasted over four minutes and seemingly put the game out of reach before a 3-pointer from Charlie Easley made it 80-74 with 2:24 left.

The Lumberjacks advantage showed up on the following possession with three offensive rebounds that killed the clock and ended with a pair of free throws from Sadaidriene Hall to make it an eight-point game.

“I knew it would be a war on the glass,” Henderson said. “It’s pretty fitting to me that they scored 11 second-chance points and they won by 11 [points]. It was a lot of that.”

SDSU guard Zeke Mayo, who finished the night with 24 points and four rebounds but also had seven turnovers, cited the Lumberjacks’ extra effort as a reason they were able to come away with the victory.

“I think they came in here and punked us on the glass,” Mayo said. “They forced a lot of turnovers. They played a lot harder than we did and they made some shots that we weren’t used to seeing so we had to tip our cap to them.”

Henderson also lamented the Jackrabbits’ carelessness with the ball over the first five games.

“We shared the ball OK when we were able to get into our stuff, but we got sped up too much,” Henderson said. “We talk about our efficiency when we take care of the ball and we get a shot, but we’re just struggling to take care of the basketball. To me, it’s a mindset. We have to make sure we continue to practice and that I and our staff continue to make strides in that area.”

The loss sank the Jackrabbits to 2-3 on the season ahead of two games at the Hostillo Community Classic in Savannah, Ga. next weekend. SDSU will play Valparaiso in the first game of the event on Friday and challenge James Madison on Saturday, but Henderson believes that while they are close to regaining their form, they need to clean up some of their shortcomings.

“If we continue to do this, we’re not going to have the success that we want to have,” Henderson said. “We understand that. We understand the outcome is not what we want but what we’re concerned with is what’s happening so far is not taking care of the basketball and not rebounding at a level we want to rebound. We have to take a look at what we’re doing and how we’re doing it.”

Easley had a career-high 22 points and six 3-pointers in the loss while Luke Appel had 11 points and four rebounds for the Jackrabbits. Alex Arians had eight points and five assists for SDSU while Matt Mims had six points off the bench.

Nigel Hawkins led the way with 25 points and six rebounds for the Lumberjacks while Hall had 14 points and seven boards. Jaylin Jackson-Posey and Latrell Jossell had 12 points each in the victory.