BROOKINGS South Dakota State completed the season sweep of South Dakota on Sunday afternoon as the Jackrabbits hung on for a 70-67 victory at Frost Arena.
It was the eighth-straight victory for the Jacks over the Coyotes. SDSU beat USD 73-55 in Vermillion two weeks ago and SDSU head coach Eric Henderson said he knew this game would be closer because the same thing happened last year.
It wasnt always easy for us, but I was proud of our guys for staying gritty. We knew that coach [Eric] Peterson was going to have those guys ready. Very similar deal to last year. They have a lot of pride. It was an awesome game. Its an awesome rivalry and its obviously fun to be on [the winning] side, Henderson said.
It was a big win for Henderson as it was the 100th victory of his career. He said the 100th win means more because of the people around him.
At the end of the day, [getting my 100th career win] is great, but Im proud of the players Ive been able to coach. Weve had such tremendous players and theyve really bought into what weve talked about. And then equally important is the other [coaches] that sit next to me are just as important as I am. Im so lucky to be surrounded by incredible people, Henderson said.
SDSU led 15-8 seven minutes into the game. The Coyotes then used a 10-3 run to take a 32-31 lead with four minutes left in the half. USD eventually led 38-37 at halftime.
The Jacks went on a 9-2 run early in the second half to go up 51-44 with 14:12 left in the game. They then led 53-47 but the Coyotes scored seven-straight to take a 54-53 lead with 7:47 left in the game.
SDSU regained the lead and was up 63-57 with 3:23 to play. A jumper from Kaleb Stewart cut the Jacks lead to 66-64 with 49 seconds left and Luke Appel was fouled by Isaac Bruns with 25 seconds left. The foul sent Appel to the line for a pair of free throws and he made one of two. Stewart then airballed a three and it went out of bounds, giving the Jacks the ball with 11 seconds left.
Charlie Easley was then fouled and knocked down a pair of free throws to extend the lead to five but a three from Isaac Bruns cut the lead to 69-67 with four seconds left. Easley was fouled again and made one of two to make it 70-67. A baseball pass was completed to Stewart and he got a shot off but it did not fall and the Jacks came away with the win.
SDSU struggled to shoot the ball down the stretch as the Jacks made just two field goals in the final 6:15 of the game. However, SDSU made 17 of its 22 free throws and made some big stops down the stretch. Henderson said he liked the way his team defended in the latter part of the game.
I think defensively in the second half we were able to challenge them on the arc pretty good. We were good defensively [down the stretch]. I think we had six stops in-a-row. That was huge for us, Henderson said.
SDSU held USD to 45.8% shooting and the Yotes were 8-of-25 from beyond the arc. The Jackrabbit defense was anchored by sophomore forward William Kyle III who had a career-high five blocks. Kyle said defense carried SDSU to a win on Sunday.
Weve been trying to emphasize protecting the paint and thats something that were trying to really focus on. I think tonight, even when our offense wasnt going the best, because of our defense we put ourselves in a position to win, Kyle said.
Kyle also led the SDSU offense with 16 points and 11 rebounds. It was the 11th-straight game that Kyle scored in double figures and USD head coach Eric Peterson said hes been impressed with how much Kyle has improved since high school.
Honestly, Im trying to think in my career, and we had one of the best shot blockers in the country at Utah State, but Ive never seen kid where youre going up with a hook shot and its up three or four feet and he blocks it and its not a goaltend. He does a lot of things on the defensive end. Ive always said that South Dakota State is so good because they recruit high school kids and develop them. If you watched him in high school, the strides hes made to now, and I did watch him in high school, theyre unbelievable, Peterson said.
SDSU shot 41.1% from the field and was 7-of-24 from three. Luke Appel had 15 points and five rebounds. Charlie Easley and Zeke Mayo each had 12 points. Mayo also dished out six assists. Matt Mims and Kalen Garry each had six points. Mims had two steals.
The Coyotes were led by junior transfer Kaleb Stewart who had 27 points. Stewart wasnt at full health the first time the two teams met. Lahat Thioune had 13 points and 10 rebounds. Paul Bruns had 11 points.
SDSU improved to 13-11 overall and 6-3 in the Summit League. USD dropped to 9-15 overall and 2-7 in conference play.
The Jacks are tied with North Dakota for first place in the conference. SDSU and UND are only four games up on last place USD and just 2.5 games separate them from NDSU, who is in eighth place.
The Jacks will have the week off as they host Denver on Saturday at 3 p.m. SDSU has yet to go on a win streak longer than three games this season, but Henderson thinks his team is close to putting it all together.
I think defensively were making great strides. Offensively, I dont think weve been able to put it all together quite yet. Weve had guys here and guys there that have played well, but we just havent been able to put it together quite yet. But I think were fighting and competing. I hate losing, and you remember all of the losses more than the wins, but were making strides, Henderson said.
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