SIOUX FALLS Cold shooting from South Dakota State and a record-setting performance from Treysen Eaglestaff led to North Dakota ending the Jackrabbits season on Friday night with an 85-69 win in the quarterfinals of the Summit League Tournament.
Eaglestaff scored 51 points to set the tournament record, while the third-seeded Jacks went 3-of-29 from three. That led to the No. 6 seeded Fighting Hawks pulling off the upset and advancing to the semifinals.
Tip the cap to North Dakota and give them credit, said SDSU head coach Eric Henderson. They got really hot and took it to us in the second half. Were certainly disappointed with the outcome, but Im not disappointed or down with my group.
It looked as though the Jacks were ready to pull away from the Fighting Hawks early in the second half as they opened the half with an 11-2 run and led 49-35 four minutes into the half. UND then went on a 23-7 run and led 58-56 with just under nine minutes to play.
Oscar Cluff made a lay up to tie things up at 58-58, but then the Jacks went ice cold. SDSU didnt make a field goal for the next seven minutes and 44 seconds. Cluff hit a 3-pointer with a minute to go but by that time UND had an 80-67 lead.
Henderson said he thought his team let the missed shots get to their head. However, he thought they were taking good shots and on Friday night they just didnt go in.
… When that basket got a little tighter during that tough stretch, I think we let it affect our edge. We let it affect our mentality a little bit. That really is what we need to grow the most in. I felt like we had some good shots. We had some good shots at the basket that didnt go in and some threes that went in and out that I thought were shots that I want our guys to shoot.
I dont think it was necessarily anything that they did or we did. It was more just their shots went in a little bit more and they started to feel a little bit better and play with a little bit more energy and confidence. Then a couple of our shots didnt go in and it went the other way.
SDSU trailed 10-8 six minutes into the game. The Jacks then went on a 9-0 run to go up 17-10 with 11:25 to go in the first half. SDSU stretched the lead to 38-27 with two minutes left and then Eaglestaff ended the half with a 3-pointer and an and-one to cut it to 38-32 at the half.
Eaglestaff had 23 points at the break and was 8-of-12 from the field. He finished 15-of-28 from the field and was 8-of-18 from beyond the arc. The eight 3-pointers were a tournament record as well and he sealed the game at the free throw line as he was 13-of-17 at the charity stripe.
Henderson said it was just one of those nights for Eaglestaff and there wasnt much the SDSU defense could do about it.
51 points is a lot. I thought we challenged him some, but he just had it going. We tried trapping him a few times to get the ball out of hands, trying to deny him a little bit. But this tournament does funky things sometimes. What a difference a year makes. We were out there celebrating last year [after winning the championship] and this year we gave up 51 in the first round. That doesnt feel real good, Henderson said.
It was a majority Jackrabbit crowd once again at the Denny Sanford Premier Center on Friday night. As has happened before, the Fighting Hawks used the crowd being against them to fuel their fire. Eaglestaff said he usually doesnt worry about the crowd, but on Friday night he thought it helped him.
… In the game, I just play basketball. I dont let any of the other stuff thats going on [bother me]. A lot of fans tried to chirp and say stuff to me. I folded for a little bit. I am usually classy, but tonight I wasnt because there were just so many [Jackrabbit] fans, Eaglestaff said.
Oscar Cluff led the Jackrabbits with 27 points and 17 rebounds. It was the 13th time this season that he recorded a double-double and he finished the season averaging 17.6 points and 12.3 rebounds. The 12.3 rebounds per game were second in the country.
Cluff is one of three seniors that will leave SDSU after the season and the other two are Isaac Lindsey and Nate Barnhart. Cluff has another year of eligibility left but is likely to hit the transfer portal again this offseason.
Henderson said both Cluff and Lindsey made a big impact on the program despite only being in Brookings for one season.
When you think about Oscar and youre bringing a guy in whos coming in for one year, and you could say this about Isaac [Lindsey] too. When their best qualities are being really efficient and unselfish, thats really special. Obviously what [Cluff] did analytically and to help our team was incredible. The confidence that he allowed our guys to play with, the pressure he took off of them for the most part this season was pretty special. I told [the seniors] that they werent here long, but the impact they made was great, Henderson said.
SDSU lost starting point Owen Larson to a season-ending knee injury two weeks ago and Henderson said he thought that played a factor in his team finishing 2-3 in their final five games of the season. He said he wished he would have handled the way he responded to Larsons absence better.
I think we were just missing a little bit of calmness. Things slowed down a little bit when Owen was in [the lineup]. I dont know if its me giving other guys opportunities earlier or doing some different things within our program. Its things that I have to think about, Henderson said.
The Jacks finished the season with an overall record of 20-12. The Fighting Hawks are now 12-20 and will play No. 2 seeded St. Thomas in the quarterfinals on Saturday night after No. 1 Omaha and No. 5 South Dakota play at 7 p.m.
Henderson said that there was a lot of disappointment in the SDSU locker room on Friday night, but he believes the Jacks will learn and grow from this loss as they head into next season.
Unfortunately when you play the game as long as we do, you have to feel that hurt. You have to feel that pain to grow, and our guys are pretty hurt right now. But I promise you, it will make us stronger, Henderson said.
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