Jackrabbits pull away from Roos in Kanas City

Andrew Holtan | The Brookings Register

KANSAS CITY – South Dakota State surged in the final eight and a half minutes on Thursday night and the Jackrabbits beat Kansas City 73-59 on the road.

SDSU led 51-49 with 8:38 to play. The Jacks then ripped off a 7-0 run to go up by nine with 6:42 to go. The Roos cut the lead to 62-55 with 4:49 to go and SDSU went on an 11-4 run to close things out.

Kansas City scored the first six points of the game and then SDSU went on a 13-4 run to take the lead. The Jacks extended the lead to 25-18 with 5:19 to go in the first half and then went up 10 with 1:45 to play. The Jacks were up 36-30 at halftime. SDSU then kept Kansas City at arms length until the midway point of the second half when the Roos used a 9-3 run to cut it to 51-49.

SDSU had another balanced scoring night as four of its five starters scored in double figures. Joe Sayler led the Jacks with 22 points and he was 4-of-8 from three. Damon Wilkinson was 8-of-14 from the field and had 19 points and six rebounds. Kalen Garry had a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds. Matthew Mors had 11 points and Luke Haertle had 10 rebounds off of the bench.

The Jacks shot 46.6% from the field and were 8-of-19 from three. The Roos shot 35.1% from the field and were 10-of-28 from three. SDSU dominated the glass with a 47-25 advantage in rebounds. The Jacks had 11 turnovers and the Roos had five. SDSU was 11-of-15 at the free throw line and Kansas City was 9-of-15.

CJ Evans led the Roos with 20 points, six assists and three steals. Jayson Petty had 15 points.

SDSU is now 7-8 in the Summit League and is tied with South Dakota. The two teams will meet in the regular season finale at 1 p.m. on Saturday in Vermillion.

If the Jackrabbits win and Omaha loses to St. Thomas, that will put SDSU, Omaha and Denver in a three-way tie at 8-8 in the league. The Mavericks would be the No. 4 seed in the conference tournament, the Jacks would be the No. 5 seed and the Pioneers would be the No. 6 seed. If SDSU wins and Omaha wins, the Jacks would be the No. 6 seed and if they lose to USD they’ll be the No. 7 seed.