BROOKINGS South Dakota State had a strong finish to the first half and solid start to the second half and that led the Jackrabbits to an 84-70 win over Oral Roberts on Saturday afternoon at First Bank & Trust Arena in Brookings.
It was 33-33 with 2:39 left in the first half. Damon Wilkinson then made a lay up and hit a pair of free throws. Matthew Mors followed that with a lay up and Joe Sayler knocked down two free throws before the end of the half to give SDSU a 41-35 lead at halftime.
The Jacks then opened the second half with a 12-5 run. Their largest lead came just under six minutes into the second half as they led 57-42.
SDSU head coach Eric Henderson said his team did a good job of getting stops and that helped on the offensive end.
I thought we got the ball inside to [Oscar Cluff] and thats usually a good start. He usually makes good things happen. That was very intentional. We were going on runs. We werent fouling them and we were getting stops. When we do that, were able to play with much better pace on the offensive end and the ball moves a little bit, Henderson said.
ORU closed the gap to 78-70 with two minutes left. Oscar Cluff then made two free throws and Owen Larson knocked down four shots at the charity stripe to put the game away.
Cluff had 21 points and 20 rebounds. He came close to having a 30-20 game against Denver on Jan. 2 as he had 30 points and 19 rebounds in that game. Cluff is shooting 70% from the field and averaging 17.4 points on just nine shots per game. Henderson said Cluffs efficiency is what has impressed him the most.
The thing that really continues to surprise me is how much he gets accomplished with how little he shoots. The efficiency is so high. Hes so unselfish, he had four assists again tonight. He just continues to make the right play and hes got tremendous hands. I always thought he could be a great player for us. The usage rate that we were going to be able to use him with was going to be able to showcase his game a little bit more than any other place in the country, Henderson said.
SDSU had four other players score in double figures. Sayler had 17 points and Owen Larson had 10 points. Kalen Garry and Matthew Mors each had 11 points. The Jacks shot 50% from the field and were 8-of-26 from three.
ORU shot 35.5% from the field and was 9-of-29 from three. The Golden Eagles were led by Summit League Preseason Player of the Year Isaac McBride who had 26 points. Henderson said part of the goal for SDSUs defense was to let McBride get his and make sure others didnt have great games.
Hes going to get shots. You cant take some of his stuff away. When we talk about hey, what are we going to give up? We wanted to keep him off the foul line and he went there four times, which isnt terrible and a couple of those were early. I thought we did a pretty good job on him, Henderson said.
JoJo Moore and J Miller each had 15 points for the Golden Eagles. SDSU had a 44-32 advantage on the glass. The Jacks were 16-of-19 at the free throw line and the Golden Eagles were 15-of-20.
Henderson said the Jacks made a lot of strides this week. He said the biggest thing that helped SDSU in the two wins this week was taking care of the ball. The Jacks had 10 turnovers on Saturday and are averaging 12.2 for the season.
I think weve made some strides in taking care of the basketball this past week and thats going to be a huge thing going forward with this group. We shot 50% again and I think were at 49% for the season. When we get shots were pretty good, its just the problem has been that weve been turning it over a little bit too much. I thought we made strides there, Henderson said.
SDSU improved to 12-8 overall and 3-2 in the Summit League. The Jacks will travel to Kansas City on Thursday and then host South Dakota on Saturday. Thursdays game is scheduled to tip off at 7 p.m. and the Saturday game will tip off at 5 p.m.
Leave a Reply