BROOKINGS — Oscar Cluff’s free throw with 1.5 seconds left gave South Dakota State an 80-79 victory over Long Beach State on Friday night at First Bank & Trust Arena.

SDSU trailed 79-77 with 15.2 seconds left after Devin Askew knocked down a jumper. The Jackrabbits then called timeout and Joe Sayler brought the ball up the court. He took a screen from Cluff on the right baseline and passed it to him on the roll. Cluff missed his initial shot, but stuck with it and made the put back and got the foul. The Australian would then drain the free throw to give the Jacks the victory.

“It wasn’t pretty,” Cluff said. “Off the air ball I got it back and put it up and they called a foul. I was like, I’ll take it. Whatever. It’s whatever you have to do sometimes. Then it was just another free throw, honestly. I wasn’t thinking too much about it.”

It was the first regular season game for the Jacks at First Bank & Trust Arena, which was renovated from Frost Arena over the past year and a half. SDSU head coach Eric Henderson said it was quite the way to finish their first game in the new arena.

“What a way to break in First Bank & Trust Arena,” Henderson said. “There’s still some of that Frost magic, that’s for sure. … Fortunately for us, the big boy from Australia was able to finish things off for us and made a heck of a play down the stretch.”

The Jacks went on a 7-0 run to go up 15-10 a little over seven minutes into the game. The Jackrabbits kept The Beach at arms length the rest of the first half and took a 37-30 lead into the locker room. 

It looked as though SDSU was ready to run away from LBSU near the midway point of the second half. Stoney Hadnot had a nifty up-and-under lay up and Nate Barnhart followed that with a 3-pointer from the left wing to make it 56-43 with 11:44 to play.

However, The Beach went on a 13-4 run to cut the lead to 60-56 with eight minutes left. Just under six minutes later TJ Wainwright gave LBSU its first lead since 10-8 as he hit a deep three to make it 70-69 with 2:16 left. Kalen Garry answered with a lay up for SDSU but Wainwright delivered again on the next possession with an and-one to make it 74-72 with 1:38 left.

SDSU’s Matthew Mors and LBSU’s Kam Martin then traded corner 3-pointers to make it 77-75 with 1:04 left. The Jacks then set up Cluff for a post up and he drew a foul. He would make two free throws to tie the game and that set up the final sequence with the Askew jumper and Cluff and-one.

Cluff, a senior who transferred from Washington State, finished with 23 points and 14 rebounds. That followed the 14 points and 14 rebounds he put up in his SDSU debut in a win over McNeese State on Monday night. Henderson said Cluff has made a huge impact in his first two games in the yellow and blue.

“[Cluff] really has a great feel for the game,” he said. “He’s such a dominant presence in there, but he’s extremely unselfish. I just feel like he understands when he needs to take over and when he needs to share the ball. The decisions he’s making with the ball in his hands are pretty special. 

“He’s got a knack for offensive rebounding and he’s one of the best in the country, honestly. … We were able to take advantage of Oscar in both games. I thought in the first game he had great patience and let the game come to him. We had to play through Oscar a lot more tonight. Is it what I expected from Oscar? I think he’s been impacting the game as much as I thought he would.” 

SDSU has a mix of younger and older guys, but the younger guys dominate the team as there are nine freshmen on the roster. The Jackarabbits had to find a way to win late in both of their first two games and Henderson said it’s all about believing in your players, even if they’re young.

“I have great confidence in these guys. I know everyone probably wants me to call timeouts and have more of a plan, but we let our guys play and they understand that and we trust them. I don’t care if they’re young, which they are and it’s not always going to go our way, but you have to keep trusting in these guys and believing in them, and that’s what we do,” Henderson said.

The Jacks shot 52% from the field and were 5-of-13 from three. Sayler had 21 points in his first game in Brookings. Owen Larson had 10 points and four rebounds and Mors had nine points. 

LBSU shot 40% from the field and was 11-of-26 from three. Askew had 27 points and eight assists. Wainwright had 23 points.

SDSU will head to the west side of South Dakota next as the Jackrabbits will take on Northern Colorado in Rapid City on Thursday. The Bears lost to Colorado in double overtime on Friday night and Henderson said his team is excited to play in front of their fans on that side of the state, but it will be a tough challenge.

“We’re psyched. I’ve been trying to get out there since I’ve been the head coach, to be honest with you. To be able to make it happen against a really good team [is great]. … I have a lot of respect for them and how they play, and we know it will be a big challenge. I think it’s pretty special that we get to go out to west river and make it a little easier for those guys to see a game. We have a lot of pride in our whole state, not just [the east] side,” Henderson said.