BROOKINGS – The last time the South Dakota State men’s basketball team lost a game was Jan. 19. They lost to the South Dakota Coyotes that day 99-84.
On Sunday, they got revenge with 85-80 win at Frost Arena and won their eighth game in a row. The Jackrabbits also clinched at least a share of the Summit League regular season title with the win and improved their home winning streak to 24 games.
“Today’s game, an incredible atmosphere. Coach [Todd] Lee does a great job with his guys, but I was really proud of our guys effort today. We had a bunch of fight, a bunch of compete. We weren’t perfect, but we made some big plays down the stretch. I’m really proud that we came out on top,” SDSU head coach Eric Henderson said.
SDSU jumped out to a 13-4 lead five minutes into the game, but the Coyotes were able to get back in it. USD took their first lead of the game with 5:45 left in the first half and were up 36-34 at halftime. It didn’t take long for SDSU to regain the lead as they went up 44-43 three and half minutes into the second half.
The two teams traded baskets for the next eight minutes until SDSU went on a 7-0 run to take a 65-59 lead. The Coyotes cut the lead down to three with six minutes left, but the Jacks used a 7-2 run to put them up by nine points with 4:58 left in the game. USD cut the lead back down to three with four minutes remaining, but one last surge for SDSU put them up eight with three minutes left and put the game out of reach.
“We started to set a few more ball screens in the second half. I thought sometimes when you just dribble it down, which we do a fair amount, and just throw it [inside]. Sometimes other players get stagnant. So we tried to get the ball going side to side before we got paint touches and when you do that it makes the defense shift a little bit and maybe get a few closer catches to the basket where we can be more effective and our spacing is a little better,” Henderson said.
SDSU (22-8, 13-2) was led by freshman Noah Freidel who scored 26 points and had six rebounds. The Tea-native, who was originally committed to Wright State, said he was glad that he flipped his commitment and atmosphere’s like Sunday are why he chose SDSU.
“I’m in the right spot.” Freidel said. “I enjoy it here, love it here, it was a great decision. I had a lot of family here at the game today and got to come and watch. That was something that important for me. I try not to think about it, but I’m definitely in the right place I would say.”
Douglas Wilson had another big game for the Jackrabbits with 20 points and seven rebounds. However, his afternoon was cut short when a guy landed on his right foot and he had to come out of the game with 1:36 left in the game.
Wilson missed the first matchup with the Coyotes due to a knee injury. He had been limping during the game on Sunday and it was the same foot that got landed on. Henderson said after the game that he didn’t know if the injuries were related.
“[Wilson’s] foot was a little sore, a little tendonitis [leading up to the game]. Who knows. It’s just too early to tell. Just like his injury before, I don’t want to speculate on anything,” Henderson said.
SDSU was 50% from field and they made seven 3-pointers on 24 attempts. Alex Arians and David Wingett each had 13 points. Arians had seven rebounds and Wingett had six. Matt Dentlinger had nine points and four rebounds. Baylor Scheierman had four points and five rebounds.
USD (19-11, 9-6) was led by Stanley Umude who had 15 points, six rebounds and six assists. He was 5-19 from the field and 1-5 from three. Tyler Hagedorn, who is fourth in the conference in scoring, averaging 18.3 points per game, had 12 points and 12 rebounds. Hagedorn is hitting on 51.9% of his shots from three, but was 0-4 Sunday from beyond the arc.
“I think our guys just aren’t being aggressive. We’re settling for too many jump shots. [Hagedorn and just shot two launches. He and [Umude] need to play better. They’re 15 for 51 the last two games. You’re playing North Dakota State and South Dakota State. You’re not going to win games when you’re two best players go 15 for 51,” USD head coach Todd Lee said.
This is the third consecutive season that SDSU has won at least a share of the Summit League title. They will finish out the season in Fargo against North Dakota State on Thursday. NDSU sits a game behind SDSU in the Summit League standings at 12-3.
If SDSU wins, they win the regular season conference title outright and if NDSU wins the teams share it. The No. 1 seed in the Summit League Tournament will be on the line as well and whoever wins the game gets that. Tipoff between the Jackrabbits and Bison is scheduled for 8 p.m.
“Obviously it’s going to be a heck of an environment,” Henderson said. “[NDSU] is a great basketball team. We got a good basketball team. They’re going to have a great crowd and our guys are excited for the moment. Excited for the challenge. We just have to go in there and be ourselves and share the basketball, compete like crazy. Certainly we’ll come up with a game plan and our guys have been really focused on that here in the last two months. So we’re going try to execute like crazy and we’ll let the chips fall where they may.”
SOUTH DAKOTA STATE 85, SOUTH DAKOTA 80
South Dakota (19-11, 9-6)
Stanley Umude 5-19 4-6 15, Triston Simpson 6-11 1-3 14, Cody Kelley 5-11 2-3 13, Tyler Hagedorn 5-11 2-3 12, Tyler Peterson 4-8 1-2 9, Brandon Armstrong 2-3 0-0 6, Hunter Goodrick 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 31-65 11-19 80.
South Dakota State (22-8, 13-2)
Noah Freidel 8-17 7-8 26, Douglas Wilson 10-16 0-1 20, Alex Arians 3-9 6-7 13, David Wingett 4-7 3-4 13, Matt Dentlinger 4-6 1-4 9, Brandon Key 0-1 0-0 0, Matt Mims 0-1 0-0 0, Beau Brown 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 31-62 17-26 85.
Halftime – 34-32 USD. 3-point field goals – USD 7-24 (Armstrong 2-3, Kelley 3-5, Simpson 1-4, Umude 1-5, Goodrick 0-1, Peterson 0-2, Hagedorn 0-4), SDSU 6-20 (Wingett 2-5, Freidel 3-8, Arians 1-4, Key 0-1, Scheierman 0-2). Rebounds – USD 39 (Hagedorn 12), SDSU 38 (Wilson, Arians 7). Assists – USD 18 (Umude 6), SDSU 15 (Arians, Key, Scheierman 3). Steals – USD 4 (Umude 2), SDSU 5 (Dentlinger 2). Blocks – USD 4 (Umude, Hagedorn 2), SDSU 2 (Wilson, Wingett). Turnovers – USD 9, SDSU 7. Total fouls – USD 24, SDSU 20. Fouled out – USD Peterson, SDSU Scheierman. Technical fouls – none. A – 4,572.
