Travis Kriens

A 14-point halftime lead was not enough for IPFW to win at Frost Arena on Jan. 21 as the SDSU men’s basketball team defeated the Mastodons 65-64.

The Jacks came out flat in the first half, much like they did in the second half of their previous game at North Dakota State. They shot 29 percent, while IPFW hit 51 percent from the field.

“It’s pretty clear with our basketball team that we’re not talented enough to be flat,” said head coach Scott Nagy. “We don’t have enough talent on our team to play flat and win basketball games, not against the competition that we are playing. We have to play with a lot of emotion and a lot of energy.”

The script was flipped in the second half as freshman point guard Nate Wolters scored the last 11 Jackrabbits points of the game over the final six minutes (outscoring IPFW by himself, since they only had eight points in the same time span) after being held scoreless during the first 30 minutes.

“I said after the game, it would be nice if you played the first half like you do the second,” Nagy said. “Nate has just shown the ability all year when games have gotten tight that is when he flat out wants to play the most.”

The Jacks had four players score in double figures led by Anthony Cordova with 14. Kai Williams added 12 points and 10 rebounds to become the first SDSU player this season to have a double-double.

Unlike in years past where SDSU has had trouble closing games out, the Jacks have now shown the ability to win games from behind. They have come back in the final 10 minutes for four of their 10 victories this season.

“I’d like to not see that ability (to come from behind) and that we actually show up and play from the start,” said Nagy. “It’s nice that we have done that, but let’s show up and play a full 40 minutes and give ourselves a way better chance and not have to do that.”

With the Oakland game looming only two days after, Nagy wasn’t too concerned since the team had its hands full with IPFW (8-10, 3-5).

“I guarantee you he (IPFW head coach Dane Fife) fed them and fed them and fed them the fact that all anybody around here is doing is talking about Oakland. You think about losing this game and the pressure that it puts on Saturday’s game. I think winning it allows us to relax. Now everybody understands that this is going to be a big deal around here and that’s a good thing.”