BROOKINGS South Dakota State held on against Omaha on Thursday night as the Jackrabbits came away with a 90-87 victory over the Mavericks at Frost Arena.
Omahas Marquel Sutton had a look at a game-tying three from the top of the key as time expired, but it hit the back of the rim and the Jacks hung on. The 3-point attempt was after Charlie Easley knocked down two free throws to give SDSU the 90-87 lead with 13.2 seconds left.
Easley was the hero of the night as he grabbed three offensive rebounds with under two minutes remaining. The first two came on the same possession and on the second one he went back up and drew an and-one and knocked down the free throw to make it an eight-point game with 1:44 to play.
Omaha would then score six straight points to cut the lead to two with 48 seconds left. Zeke Mayo drove to the basket on the next possession and his lay up rimmed out, but Easley was there for the rebound and drew a foul and knocked down a pair of free throws.
Easley scored the final seven points for the Jacks and finished the game with 17 points and nine rebounds. He said rebounding is something he always tries to do and when you want to win, you have to do it down the stretch.
I just tried to follow the boards. I knew that Zeke was going to take a good shot, but why not and try and have two chances there at the end. So, you just fight hard there at the end to get that board and the ball went the right way and I was in the right spot, Easley said.
SDSU head coach Eric Henderson said it was nothing new for the senior guard from Lincoln, Nebraska.
Thats Charlie being Charlie at the end of the day. Making winning plays, finding extra possessions for our guys and making free throws down the stretch was huge for us. But you have to put yourself in position and boy were those rebounds late huge for our basketball team and we needed every one of them, Henderson said.
After Easley pushed the lead to four with his free throws with 23 seconds left, Omahas JJ White came down and knocked down a three to cut the lead to one and that set up Easleys final free throws and Suttons missed three.
SDSUs goal on Omahas final possession was to get the ball out of the hands of Frankie Fidler, who entered the game averaging 30 points per game in conference play. Henderson said the Jacks did a good job of executing the game plan on the final possession.
There was little too much time left to foul, I thought. It just gets a little dicey, so we decided not to foul. We just said to try to get it out of his hands, stay in front and dont foul. I thought our guys did a good job of getting it out of his hands, Henderson said.
Both teams got off to good starts as it was 8-8 five and a half minutes in. It was then a half of runs. SDSU went on a 9-2 run to go up 17-10 with 12 minutes left in the first half. Omaha responded with a 13-3 run and led 36-32 with two minutes to go in the half. The Jacks closed the half with a 9-3 run and took a 41-39 lead into halftime.
The Jacks then got off to a strong start to the second half as they led 51-43 four minutes in. Omaha cut the lead to seven with 13:30 to play but the Jacks responded with a Mayo 3-pointer and back-to-back lay ups from Easley and Nate Barnhart to push the lead to 14 with 12 minutes left.
The Jacks led by 13 with 6:16 to play and the Mavericks went on an 11-2 run to cut the lead to four with just under five minutes left. That set up the late-game stretch highlighted by Easley.
Henderson said he was proud of the way his team showed some resiliency and didnt panic down the stretch as they have lost a lot of close games this season.
I was really proud of our guys. We showed some resilience. We made a few mistakes down the stretch and we were able to overcome them, Hendersons said.
SDSU was coming off of a game where it gave up 99 points to Denver in a loss. On Thursday night the Jacks held the Mavericks to 44.3% shooting from the field but Omaha made 23-of-26 at the free throw line.
Henderson said the defense was a lot better on Thursday night, but they still need to do a better job of playing defense without fouling.
I thought our intent was better [on defense]. I thought our energy and our presentation and just the will to want to get a stop was at a higher level. It didnt always happen, but I think if we can continue to do that and continue to put an emphasis on that at the end of the day, and thats my responsibility, well continue to grow in that area and be better in longer stretches, Henderson said.
SDSU shot 53.4% from the field and was 10-of-24 from three. Mayo led SDSU with 21 points and five rebounds. Matt Mims had 14 points. William Kyle III and Kalen Garry each had 12 points. Kyle also had seven rebounds, five assists and zero turnovers.
The Jacks as a team had 17 assists and eight turnovers. SDSU came into the game averaging over 12 turnovers per game. Henderson was very pleased with his teams ball movement on Thursday night.
Im ecstatic. Eight turnovers. Weve had a problem with [turnovers], to be honest with you. We had a few careless ones, but eight is a good number. The assists, thats something thats been in the works. So, were really starting to share the basketball and were starting to shoot it better from the perimeter too and that can help your assist number as well. I was really proud of the guys and how theyre sharing the ball and being selfless, Henderson said.
Fidler and Sutton each had 20 points to lead the Mavericks. Fidler had eight rebounds and four assists and Sutton had 10 rebounds. White had 17 points and five rebounds. Tony Osburn had 13 points.
SDSU improved to 10-9 overall and 3-1 in the Summit League with the win. The Jacks are now tied with Denver atop the Summit League after Thursday night. The Jacks have yet to fully get momentum this season as their longest win streak is three games. Mims said after Thursdays game that getting more consistent begins with how they practice.
I think it starts every day in practice. We just have to have an approach to want to get better each day and really focus. I think if we do that, well keep on improving, Mims said.
The Jacks will hit the road on Saturday for the Interstate Series against South Dakota. The Coyotes won in overtime against St. Thomas on Thursday night. Tip off between SDSU and USD is set for 1 p.m. You can watch the game on the Summit League Network or Midco Sports.
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