Men’s Basketball

In men’s baketball this weekend the Jacks emerged victorious.

On Friday night the Jacks moved to first place in the NCC after completing a regular-season sweep against North Dakota State with an 88-71 victory Friday night at the Bison Sports Arena.

SDSU is now 22-3 overall, 6-3 in the NCC, while NDSU fell to 13-9 overall, 6-3 in the NCC.

Andy Moeller led five Jacks in double figures with 23 points. Josh Cerveny added 16 points while Marquise Richardson and Derrick Schantz had 12 each and Jared DeJong scored 11.

NDSU had its only lead when Adam Dobmeier opened the scoring with a three-point basket. Back-to-back baskets by Cerveny put the Jacks ahead 4-3 and they led the rest of the way, leading 43-25 at halftime.

A layup and free throw by Schantz with 4:26 to play gave SDSU its biggest lead at 81-56.

On Saturday night Andy Moeller scored 13 of South Dakota State’s last 17 points as the Jackrabbits defeated the University of North Dakota 73-66 completing a sweep on the North Dakota trip.

Moeller finished with 22 points as SDSU improved to 23-3 overall, 7-3 in the NCC. He also had six assists.

Schantz scored SDSU’s first five points and 12 in the first half as the Jacks led 39-27 halftime.

Led by center Todd Rypkema, UND closed within 56-54 before Moeller hit three straight three-point shots to keep SDSU ahead. Rypkema scored 25 before he fouled out. He made 11-of-15 field goal attempts and had nine rebounds.

Schantz finished with 19 points.

The men’s success this weekend resulted in guard Andy Moeller being named co-North Central Conference Men’s Basketball Player of the Week, league officials announced Monday.

Moeller currently ranks second in the NCC with an average of 2.6 three-pointers per game.

He also ranks fourth in the league in scoring 18.2 points per game in conference play and is tied for seventh in steals with 1.4 per game.

It is the second time Moeller has earned the weekly NCC honor this season; he was named NCC Player of the Week on Dec. 22. He shared this week’s honor with Derek Paben of the University of South Dakota.

The Jackrabbits will close out the home portion of their regular season schedulethis weekend with games against St. Cloud State on Friday and Minnesota State, Mankato on Saturday.

Women’s Basketball

Seventh-ranked South Dakota State rallied from a 19 point deficit to defeat sixth-ranked North Dakota State 71-66 in North Central Conference women’sbasketball Friday night at the Bison Sports Arena in Fargo.

With the victory, SDSU moved into a tie with NDSU for first place in the NCC standings. Each team is now 18-4 overall, 7-2 in the NCC.

North Dakota State jumped out to an 18-9 lead early, and led 37-29 at halftime.

The Bison built up a 53-34 lead early with 15:14 remaining before the Jackrabbits began their comeback.

Heather Sieler’s three-pointer with 11:09 left capped a 10-0 run, cutting the Bison lead to nine.

NDSU took a 60-53 lead with 5:26 left when SDSU made its second big run of the contest, this time a 9-0 run.

Shannon Schlagel led the run. Her lay-up tied the contest with 4:04 left, then another Schlagel lay-in put the Jacks back on top for good 61-60 with 2:51 to play. Her two free-throws with nine seconds left sealed the victory.

Schlagel, who moved to 13th on the all-time SDSU scoring list, led all scorerswith 20 points. Brenda Davis added 13, and Megan Vogel had ten points and ninerebounds. Katie Lorenz scored 17 to lead the Bison, with Angie Froehlich adding 16. Danni Heintzelman led NDSU with seven rebounds, along with her ten points.

Saturday night North Dakota out-scored South Dakota State 49-29 in the second half and went on to defeat the Jackrabbits 83-57 in North Central Conference women’s basketball .

UND out-shot SDSU 57 per cent (32 of 56) to 40 per cent (20 of 50), had a 35-30 rebounding advantage, and the Jacks had 30 turnovers.

Brenda Davis hit 6-of-9 field goal attempts and led the Jacks with 14 points while Megan Vogel added 10.

SDSU is now 18-5 overall while UND is 19-4. Both teams are 7-3 in the NCC, tied for second behind North Dakota State, which defeated Augustana 78-73 Saturday to regain first place.

Four of SDSU’s five losses this season have been on Saturday after the Jacks played on Friday.

SDSU will have its final regular-season home stand next weekend, facing St. Cloud State Friday and Minnesota State, Mankato Saturday.