BROOKINGS Luke Appels 3-point attempt at the buzzer hit off the rim and missed on Thursday night and South Dakota State fell to North Dakota State 74-73 in overtime.
The Jacks (12-11, 5-3) led 72-71 with 22 seconds left and Zeke Mayo, who had 35 points on the night to lead SDSU, missed a three. NDSU (10-12, 3-4) got the rebound and opted to not call a timeout. Boden Skunberg drove into the lane and put up a shot and it missed but redshirt freshman Noah Feddersen was there for the put back and the Bison took the lead with 1.3 seconds to go.
SDSU head coach Eric Henderson said he liked the way the Jacks defended on that possession but they just couldnt come away with the rebound.
I thought we had great fight and challenged the shot really well, but all five guys have to get in there [for the rebound] and I dont know if that was necessarily the case. Ill have to go look at it, I dont know, Henderson said.
The Jacks then threw the ball in just past mid court and called timeout with one second left to set up a play to try to win the game. Henderson said they initially wanted to get the ball into Mayo but also wanted to make sure they got a shot off.
We had a little curl play to get Zeke on the back side. We told Kalen [Garry] that if hes open we need to throw it, but we need to get a shot too. So Feddersen stayed with Zeke and at the end of the day you get a shot and thats what you want, Henderson said.
Mayo looked like he was going to be the hero earlier in the night as he hit a 3-pointer to make it 65-65 with six seconds left in regulation. The Bison missed a shot at the buzzer on the other end and the game went to overtime. Henderson said he told Mayo that he wanted him to try to get a three fast in case the Bison opted to foul up three.
We werent sure if they were going to foul or not. [NDSU] called timeout with just a little over 10 seconds left. Its right on the edge [of wanting to foul up three]. So we told Zeke to go really fast at the end of the day, because if they were going to foul, we wanted more time on the clock. So we wanted to make sure he played with great pace and got down to our end of the floor as fast as he could and if he could get to one of his rocker threes, let it ride. Thats what he did, Henderson said.
SDSU got off to a great start as the Jacks led 16-6 six and a half minutes into the game. The Bison then answered with a 24-4 run and took a 30-20 lead with 4:37 to play in the first half. Henderson said he thought NDSU was the more physical team during the Bisons big run.
I think the physicality [changed]. To start the game they were throwing it inside and we were throwing it in. We were physical and I thought we were attacking and playing with good pace. Honestly, I think it was more on the offensive end where we got real stale. We shot a couple of fadeaways and lost our physicality, and they became the more physical and aggressive team, Henderson said.
SDSU closed the half with a 10-3 run of its own and it was 33-30 NDSU at halftime. The Jacks stretched the run to 19-3 as they scored the first nine points of the second half. Sophomore forward William Kyle III said the Jacks need to do a better job of limiting the opponents runs, while also still going on runs of their own.
I think with the runs in general, we need to be able to limit that. I think theres times where we get too comfortable and teams go on, I dont know what the numbers were, but they went on a pretty good run and we got down a few. I think we need to put ourselves in a position where we dont have to get down and then have to start to come back and fight more, Kyle said.
SDSU led 45-41 with 9:48 to play and the Bison kept chipping away at the lead until they led 58-57 with just under three minutes to play. It was then a free throw shooting contest down the stretch before Mayos game-tying 3-pointer.
Mayo said its a frustrating loss because he felt the Jacks did enough to get the win on Thursday night.
Its tough to lose in that kind of way. Especially when you know you fought for 40-plus minutes. We did everything we could. We were forcing them to miss shots and unfortunately a couple balls bounced their way and they scored off extra opportunities, Mayo said.
SDSU shot 37.9% from the field and was 7-of-27 from three. Mayo also had six rebounds and two steals for the Jacks. Kyle had 12 points, six rebounds and four blocks. Appel had a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds.
NDSU shot 42.4% from the field and was 7-of-18 from three. Skunberg had 14 points, 11 rebounds and six assists to lead the Bison. Andrew Morgan had 12 points and Jacari White had 10 points. Lance Waddles had nine points.
SDSU narrowly won the rebound battle 41-40. The Jacks only allowed five offensive rebounds on Thursday night and Kyle said that makes the loss even tougher because when the game was on the line they gave up an offensive board.
We outrebounded them in the second half, but you never know when plays like that will happen. Obviously there was a lot going on and the play went their way. You cant not be frustrated with something like that. Especially something like this. This one definitely stings, but we cant feel sorry for ourselves, Kyle said.
It was the 14th-straight meeting between NDSU and SDSU that was settled by 10 points or less. NDSU head coach Dave Richman said the reason the two teams are so evenly matched is because theyre both great programs.
You have two programs that care. Theyre passionate about their athletic departments and passionate about their basketball programs. They both do things the right way, Richman said.
SDSU will have to get over the loss quickly as the Jacks will welcome in-state rival South Dakota to Brookings on Sunday at 4 p.m. Henderson said his team will figure things out over the next two days and will remain positive as they gear up for another rivalry game.
Im a glass half full type of guy. I have my dobber down right now, but that wont last long. This one stings, but the sun will come out tomorrow. We have great guys in this locker room. Theyre about the right things and they know we have to be better. Thats what were going to do. Were going to get on the practice floor, were going to smile, were going to laugh and were going to figure out how to beat [USD], Henderson said.
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