Charlie Maricle

The men’s basketball team entered the postseason as the second seed in the NCC.

The Jacks were able to sweep their last four games at home. Their trip into the postseason had no drama.

SDSU beat UNO 83-60 on Feb. 28. And they began March with a 76-65 win against UNC.

The first round of the NCC tournament brought Minnesota State-Mankato to Brookings, March 4.

The Mavericks came in as the seventh seed just 10 days after they suffered a 22 point defeat from the Jacks.

The first half was a dog fight.

SDSU held the lead most of the half but could never extend it beyond seven points.

By halftime the Mavericks had tied the score at 34 despite shooting 40 percent to SDSU’s 55 percent. The difference was that the Mavericks shot 11 more times than SDSU.

With 10 minutes left in the game, SDSU was able to pull away and win 79-65.

SDSU shot the lights out in the second half as well, with 52 percent.

Austin Hansen lead the way with 30 points, hitting 5 of 9 from three point range and 9 of 10 from the free throw line.

At halftime, Hansen gave a spirited speech that woke the Jacks up.

“They played like they needed the game and we played like if we won it was all right and if we lost we were still okay,” Hansen said about his halftime speech.

In the second half, SDSU still wasn’t able to shake the Mavericks.

But at the 10 minute mark SDSU stepped up their play.

SDSU went on a 10-0 run and the score never reached single digits again.

MSU-M was only able to muster 17 trips to the free throw line the entire game, while SDSU made 18 trips to the charity stripe in the second half alone.

SDSU also controlled the rebounding stat 37 to 25. Marquise Richardson lead the rebounding effort with 12.

In the semifinal game, in St. Cloud, Minn., SDSU was upset by #6 University of Nebraska-Omaha.

SDSU fell behind early and found itself down by 12 at halftime.

In the second half, the Jacks were able to cut the lead to two, but a 19-6 Maverick run ended the game 80-65.

Chris Stoebner and Richardson led SDSU with 14 points apiece. Hansen was held to 13. SDSU was able to shoot 47 percent, but that was significantly less than UNO’s 53 percent.

UNO was lead by Adam Wetzel, who had 25 points and 13 rebounds.

Ty Graham came off the bench for UNO to hit 5 of 7 three pointers.

The Jackrabbits will hold a four seed in the Regional of the National Tournament. The Regional will be held in Kearney, Neb.