The South Dakota State men’s basketball team walked out of First Bank & Trust Arena Saturday with a 91-83 come-from-behind win over the North Dakota Fighting Hawks.
With the win, the Jackrabbits (13-16, 6-8 Summit) now sit just a half-game behind rival South Dakota in the conference standings. North Dakota (16-15, 10-5 Summit) remains in third place, a full game behind St. Thomas.
“We’ve been in a lot of the moments we were in in the second half and for us to make key winning plays, whether it be on offense or defense,” head coach Bryan Petersen said. “I thought [it] was huge for our team and hopefully that gets us over the hump and gives us some confidence going into the last week of the regular season.”
With 8:52 left in the first half, the Hawks led the Jackrabbits 32-22, but SDSU stormed back and closed out the first half on a 20-12 run to pull within two points at the half.
SDSU kept it close in the second half, as UND’s largest lead was only seven points.
The Jacks finished the game on a 10-2 run to get the win.
“We were fortunate enough to make them miss at the end and have a couple shots fall,” junior guard Kalen Garry said.
Three-point shots and rebounds kept SDSU in it, as they shot 14-for-29 from deep and got 40 rebounds, while UND hit 13-for-31 threes and only grabbed 25 rebounds.
Offensively, the Jackrabbits got 12 rebounds, more than doubling the Fighting Hawks’ total of just six.
Senior Matthew Mors and sophomore Joe Sayler led the way for SDSU as they combined for 41 points and 15 rebounds.
Sayler contributed 23 points and eight rebounds, while Mors scored 18 and grabbed seven boards.
“We went into halftime down two and it was a dogfight in the second half,” Sayler said. “Then at the end we pulled away and got stops when we needed to.”
UND was led offensively by senior guard Garrett Anderson, who had 18 points and seven rebounds. Redshirt freshman Greyson Uelmen also had a good game, scoring 19 points.
The Jackrabbits punished the Fighting Hawks at the line as they hit 21 of 25 free throws compared to the Hawks’ eight made free throws on 12 attempts.
UP NEXT
The Jackrabbits will be on the road for their final two games of the regular season, heading to Kansas City Thursday and facing South Dakota in Vermillion on Saturday.
