Jackrabbits down IPFW for first Summit League win

Saturday, January 5

Frost Arena

7:30 p.m.

South Dakota State University

IPFW

1/5/2008 1:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball

By: SDSU Sports Info

BROOKINGS, S.D. ? South Dakota State beat IPFW 73-60, on Saturday for its first ever Summit League win in front of 2,620 fans at Frost Arena, and broke a 36-year-old record in the process. The Jackrabbits went a perfect 14-for-14 from the free throw line, breaking the previous single-game free throw percentage record of 36-for-39, set on Dec. 11, 1971 against Southwest State.

Four Jackrabbits teamed-up to set the new free-throw record, Kai Williams (5-for-5), Garrett Callahan (4-for-4), Anthony Cordova (3-for-3) and Dale Moss (2-for-2).

Entering the game, the Jacks were shooting 69 percent from the free-throw line as a team.

Sophomore Kai Williams led the charge for the Jacks with a game-high 19 points and a game-high 10 rebounds. Fellow sophomore Garrett Callahan pitched in with 18 points and senior Ben Beran added 11 in the win.

The Jacks, who trailed for all of 16 seconds early in the first half, improve to 5-9 overall, 1-3 in The Summit League, while the Mastodons falls to 5-10 overall, 2-2 in league play. The loss also keeps the ?Dons winless on the road (0-9).

Callahan got the Jackrabbits on the board first with a three-pointer from the wing, as SDSU built an early five-point lead.

IPFW would answer with a couple of three-pointers to take the lead at 9-8 with just over three minutes off the clock, but four quick points from Beran put the Jacks back on top, and they never trailed again.

SDSU would lead by as many as ten points in the first half, and went into the locker room at halftime up seven at 33-26.

The Mastodons scored the first five points of the second half to cut the lead to two points with 17:26 on the clock, but the Jacks outscored the ?Dons 25-9 over the next eight minutes to take a 60-42, lead with 9:37 to play.

IPFW would never get closer then 11 points down the stretch, as the Jackrabbits stayed perfect from the charity stripe to preserve the 73-60 win.

Neither team shot particularly well from the field in the first half, but IPFW did hold and edge at 41 percent (9-of-22) compared to the Jacks who shot 39.4 percent (13-of-33) in the first 20 minutes.

The Jackrabbits came back strong in the second half, and shot an impressive 58.3 percent (14-of-24) in the second half, for a game total of 47.4 percent.

IPFW improved to 48 percent shooting (12-of-27), but the Jacks dominated the boards, holding the Mastodons to just five offensive rebounds all night.

For the game, SDSU out rebounded IPFW 36-22, 12-5 on offense and 24-17 on defense. The Jacks committed just nine turnovers all night, one more than their season low, IPFW turned the ball over 11 times.
Zach Plackemeier led three Mastodons in double figures with 13 points, Jaraun Burrows added 12 and Ben Botts 11 in the loss.

SDSU returns to action on Thursday in Macomb, Ill., when they take on the Western Illinois Leathernecks in Summit League play and then again on Saturday at IUPUI.

Tip-off from Western Hall is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Thursday and tip-off from the IUPUI Gymnasium on Saturday is schedule for 6 p.m.