SIOUX FALLS – South Dakota State never led Tuesday night and the Washington Huskies handed the Jackrabbit men’s basketball team their second loss of the season.
The Huskies (4-2) shot 58.3% from the field and were 10-22 from three as they came away with a 87-76 victory in the second game of the Crossover Classic at the Sanford Pentagon.
Washington’s Terrell Brown Jr. was red hot as he scored 32 points and was 13-18 from the field. SDSU head coach Eric Henderson said sometimes you just have to tip your cap to the opponent.
“You have to give Brown credit. I mean he was terrific. We battled him, but he just made tough shot after tough shot and answered every time we got it down to four or five points. Sometimes you have to tip the cap, but we have things we have to work on too,” Henderson said.
The Huskies jumped out to a 15-7 lead in the first four minutes of the game. SDSU (5-2) would then go on an 8-2 run to cut the lead to two with 12:18 left in the first half. That was as close as the Jacks would get as Washington pushed its lead to as many as 12 in the first half and the Huskies took a 42-32 lead into the locker room.
Washington led 49-36 four minutes into the second half. SDSU would then cut the lead to 55-50 with 11:49 left in the game, but Washington kept the Jacks at arms length.
With the Huskies leading 57-50 with 11:31 left in the game, Brown scored 15-striaght points. Henderson said he probably should have called timeout to adjust some things.
“I should have probably called timeout and just made somebody else do something [other than Brown], to be really honest with you. And that’s on me. He got her cooking and I’ve seen it before. This kid has done this, not just against the Rabbits. He’s made plays like that, he loves that moment. So it’s on me just as much as it’s on anybody. I need to make an adjustment there a little bit earlier then we did. I’ll own that,” Henderson said.
A Baylor Scheierman 3-pointer cut the lead to 65-61 with eight minutes left. The two teams traded shots until the Huskies extended their lead to 84-72 with 2:24 left in the game and that was all she wrote.
SDSU shot 46% from the field, but was 6-17 from three. The Jacks were 12-17 from the free throw line.
“… We were getting shots that we liked. We want to shoot the shots that we shot and they didn’t fall tonight. That’s okay, but like I told our guys in the locker room, we have to find other ways to win other than just by making three’s or scoring at a high level,” Henderson said.
Noah Freidel had 20 points and five rebounds to lead the Jacks. Douglas Wilson had a double-double with 18 points and 12 rebounds. Scheierman had 14 points, four rebounds and four assists. Luke Appel had eight points on 4-6 shooting.
Henderson said he did like how Wilson and Appel played down low against a big team.
“Our guys are playing well. We do good things and play at a high level. Doug was efficient again tonight. He struggled a little bit in the beginning of the year with his field goal percentage and missing some bunnies around the rim, and he’s been terrific the past two games. Just proud of Doug for sticking with it. … Very happy with how Doug played and even Luke in the first half was 4-6 and did a good job scoring down low,” Henderson said.
PJ Fuller had 14 points and Emmit Matthews Jr. had 13 for the Huskies. Jamal Bey had 12 points on 3-6 shooting from three.
Each team grabbed 31 rebounds. Washington had 16 turnovers and SDSU had 15.
1,600 people watched the game at the Pentagon Tuesday night and most of them we’re in blue and yellow supporting the Jackrabbits. Washington head coach Mike Hopkins said it was an incredible atmosphere for a college basketball game.
“I loved [the atmosphere]. To be honest, the fans here are terrific. The support of South Dakota State, it was a lot of fun. To have fans back in the stands and even if we’re the road team, we’ve all played and that gives you energy and that’s what’s so fun about being in a great tournament like this. Nothing is better than playing in a great environment against a good team with great basketball fans. [SDSU] has some great basketball fans,” Hopkins said.
SDSU will take on George Mason Wednesday night at 8:30 p.m. to close out the Crossover Classic.
SOUTH DAKOTA STATE 102, WASHINGTON 75
Washington (4-2)
Terrell Brown Jr. 13-18 6-7 32. PJ Fuller 6-10 0-0 14, Emmitt Matthews Jr. 5-7 0-2 13, Jamal Bey 4-9 1-2 12, Daejon Davis 3-10 0-0 7, Jackson Grant 2-4 0-0 4, Cole Bajema 1-1 0-0 3, Nate Roberts 1-1 0-0 2. 35-60 7-11 87.
South Dakota State (5-2)
Noah Freidel 6-14 6-6 20, Douglas Wilson 7-13 4-7 18, Baylor Scheierman 5-15 2-4 14, Luke Appel 4-6 0-0 8, Alex Arians 3-5 0-0 7, Charlie Easley 3-6 0-0 7, Matt Dentlinger 1-3 0-0 2, Zeke Mayo 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 29-63 12-17 76.
UW 42 45 – 87
SDSU 32 44 – 76
3-point field goals – UW 10-22 (Cole 1-1, Matthews 3-5, Bey 3-6, Fuller 2-5, Brown 0-1), SDSU 6-17 (Arians 1-2, Scheierman 2-5, Freidel 2-6, Easley 1-3, Mayo 0-1). Rebounds – UW 31 (Roberts 8), SDSU 31 (Wilson 12). Assists – . Steals – UW 13 (Davis 5), SDSU 9 (Scheierman 4). Blocks – UW 3 (Roberts 2), SDSU 1 (Easley). Turnovers – UW 16, SDSU 15. Total fouls – UW 14, SDSU 15. Fouled out – none. Technical fouls – none. A – 1,600
