Jacks fall to the Bison in first Summit League Meeting

Friday, January 25

Fargo, N.D.

7 p.m.

South Dakota State University

North Dakota State

Ben Beran signs to play pro basketball in Germany

1/25/2008 1:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball

By: SDSU Sports Info

FARGO, N.D. ? South Dakota State fell behind early to rival North Dakota State on Friday night in front of 4,545 fans at Bison Sports Arena, and never recovered, as the Bison downed the Jackrabbits 90-63 in the 194th meeting between the two teams, the first in Summit League play.

The loss drops the Jacks to 7-13 overall and 2-7 in Summit League play heading into next week's road trip to IPFW and Oakland. The win gives the Bison a 11-9 record, 5-4 in league play.

Sophomore Kai Williams, who led the Jacks with 17 points on 6-of-9 shooting, 66 percent, opened the scoring with a three pointer. The Bison responded with a 7-0 run that quickly turned into a 22-2 run that lasted nearly seven minutes, and ended with the Bison on top 22-5.

The first half ended with NDSU up 56-28 on 21-of-30 shooting, 63.6 percent, including a 6-for-10 effort from beyond the three-point arc.

SDSU went 11-for-27 from the floor, 40.7 percent, in the first half and went 3-for-8, 37.5 percent, from three-point range.

The Jacks also committed 12 first half turnovers, while the Bison turned the ball over just twice.

South Dakota State trailed by as many as 31 points in the second half, but battled back to cut the final deficit to 17 points, and out scored the Bison 35-34 over the last 20 minutes.

Along with Williams' 17 points, Senior Ben Beran pitched in with 12 points to round out the double-digit scorers for the Jackrabbits, who improved to shoot 48 percent, 13-for-27, in the second half.

NDSU cooled off from its first half shooting to shoot 41 percent, 12-of-29, in the second half for a game total of 53.2 percent. F

Ben Woodside led three Bison in double figures with a game-high 25 points, Brett Winkelman added 16, as did Pierre native Michael Tveidt, who scored all of his career-high 16 points in the first ten minutes of the game.

The Bison also held the advantage on the boards, out rebounding the Jackrabbits 34-29.

Bowman, N.D., native and SDSU freshman Payton Tivis made his Jackrabbit debut, logging six minutes in the loss, but did not crack the scorecard.

The Jackrabbits begin their second trip through The Summit League on Thursday, when they travel to Fort Wayne, Ind., to take on IPFW. The Jacks won the first meeting with the Mastodons 73-60 on Jan. 5, in Frost Arena.

Tip-off from Memorial Coliseum is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET.