SDSU fends off Eastern Washington for 74-64 victory

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CHENEY, Wash. – Four Jackrabbits reached double figures as South Dakota State took down Eastern Washington 74-64 in a men’s basketball game Tuesday evening at Reese Court.

Mike Daum led the way with his ninth double-double of the year, hitting 9-of-17 from the field and all eight of his free throw attempts to finish with 27 points alongside 11 rebounds.

Tevin King posted his first double-double of the campaign, scoring 11 points with 10 rebounds and a team-best four assists.

Skyler Flatten finished with 20 points and David Jenkins added 12.

“I think it was definitely a sloppy game in a challenging environment,” SDSU coach T.J. Otzelberger said. “We’ve been on the road and a lot of tough factors played into it, but I thought they (EWU) did a great job switching defenses to keep us off balance. Mike (Daum) played great, but specifically late, the plays by (Skyler) Flatten and Tevin King, those were the difference in us coming out with a victory.”

South Dakota State never trailed but was forced to deal with a pesky Eagle attack that stayed within single digits until the final 30 seconds of the game.

The Jackrabbits scored the first nine points of the game and built a 15-7 lead in the opening 6 minutes of action, but Eastern Washington answered with a 7-0 run to draw within 15-14 before the under-12 media timeout. The Jacks again went up eight – 24-16 – after a Jenkins 3-pointer at 8:47, only to have the Eagles respond to crawl back within 24-23 less than two minutes later.

SDSU grew its lead to seven 36-29 with less than a minute to go in the half, but would not see that advantage again until midway through the second as EWU hit a 3-pointer and sent the Jackrabbits to the locker room up 36-32.

The Eagles made it a one-point game at 36-35 with a 3-pointer on their opening possession of the second half, setting in motion a back-and-forth frenzy until consecutive 3s from Daum and Ryan Krueger put the Jacks in control, 57-50, with 10:42 to play.

Four more EWU 3-pointers helped the home team hang around down the stretch, but King secured the Jackrabbit victory with eight points of his own the rest of the way, helping SDSU grow its lead to a game-high 10 with two free throws to close the scoring.

South Dakota State (10-4) wraps up the nonconference portion of its schedule Saturday at home. The Jackrabbits welcome Montana to Frost Arena for a 7 p.m. tip. EWU dropped to 1-9.

Notes: With 2,578 career points, Daum moved from tied for 45th to 40th on the all-time NCAA Division I scoring list.

SOUTH DAKOTA STATE 74, EASTERN WASHINGTON 64

South Dakota State (10-4)

Mike Daum 9-17 8-8 27, Skyler Flatten 7-13 3-6 20, David Jenkins 4-12 2-2 12, Tevin King 2-3 7-7 11, Alex Arians 0-4 0-0 0, Ryan Krueger 1-3 0-0 3, Owen King 0-2 1-2 1, Matt Dentlinger 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-54 21-25 74.

Eastern Washington (1-9)

Jacob Davison 6-12 4-4 20, Jack Perry 5-10 0-0 14, Jesse Hunt 2-7 4-6 8, Luka Vulikic 2-6 1-2 5, Steven Beo 0-1 0-1 0, Cody Benzel 3-8 0-0 9, Tyler Kidd 1-2 0-0 3, Elijah Jackson 1-1 0-0 3, Austin Fadal 1-4 0-0 2, Ty Gibson0-2 0-0 0, Tanner Groves 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 21-54 9-13 64.

Halftime – SDSU 36-32. 3-point goals – SDSU 7-25 (Flatten 3-7, Jenkins 2-5, Krueger 1-3, Daum 1-5, T. King 0-1, Arians 0-2, O. King 0-2), EWU 13-38 (Davison 4-9, Perry 4-9, Benzel 3-8, Jackson 1-1, Kidd 1-2, Beo 0-1, Gibson 0-1, Vulikic 0-2, Fadal 0-2, Hunt 0-3). Rebounds – SDSU 35 (Daum 11, T. King 10), EWU 34 (Hunt 12). Assists – SDSU 9 (T. King 4), EWU 15 (Hunt 8). Steals – SDSU 7 (Flatten, T. King, O. King 2), EWU 5 (Vulikic, Benzel 2). Blocks – SDSU 2 (Daum 2), EWU 1 (Davison 1). Turnovers – SDSU 12, EWU 15. Total fouls – SDSU 18, EWU 21. Fouled out – none. Technical fouls – none. A – 1,042.