Jacks fall at ORU, but secure tournament berth

Thursday, February 26

Tulsa, Okla.

7:05 p.m.

South Dakota State University

Oral Roberts

2/26/2009 1:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball

By: SDSU Sports Info

TULSA, Okla. ? The South Dakota State men's basketball team lost at Oral Roberts on Thursday night in Tulsa, Okla., by the score of 63-58, but the Jackrabbits still secured a spot in the upcoming Summit League Championships when North Dakota State defeated Centenary 89-79 in Shreveport, La.

The Jacks, who fall to 12-18 overall and 7-10 in Summit League play, did not lead in the first half, but battled back in the second half to lead by as many as five points, but the Golden Eagles, who improve to 16-13 overall and 14-3 in league play, ended the game on a 10-0 run to secure the win.

Anthony Cordova led all players with 20 points, one shy of his career-high of 21, he also added 11 rebounds for his sixth double-double of the season.

Michael Palarca tied a career-high with ten points and Kai Williams also added ten points in the loss. Mark Engen added six points and recorded two steals in seven productive minutes off the bench.

Marcus Lewis led Oral Roberts with 18 points and added a game-high 13 rebounds; Robert Jarvis added 16 and Kyron Stokes 12 points in the win.

ORU scored first and steadily built a lead that reached its peak at 26-14 with 7:33 left in the first half.

SDSU played itself back into the game and a Garrett Callahan three pointer, his only points of the night, got the Jacks to within three points at 30-27 at halftime.

A Palarca jumper to start the second half got the Jacks to within one and, after a pair of ties, the Jacks took a 40-42 lead on a Cordova bucket with 13:31 left to play.

The Jacks held on to that lead and increased it five points at 56-51 with 7:26 on the clock and got the lead back to five at 58-53 with 5:23 left on a Palarca layup, but the Jacks did not score again.

Rebounds made the difference, as ORU finished the game plus 15 on the boards (44-20), and pulled down 20 offensive rebounds to the Jacks eight.

After shooting 36.7 percent in the first half on 11-of-30 shooting, the Jacks shot an even 50 percent in the second half on 13-of-26 shooting for a game total of 43 percent.

SDSU held the Golden Eagles to just 35.7 percent shooting on the night (10-of-56), but ORU went 18-for-29 at the line compared to a 5-for-9 effort from the Jacks.

The Jacks return to action for their final regular season game, and still in search of their first-ever Summit League road win, on Saturday, when they travel to Shreveport, La., to take on Centenary in the Gold Dome at 2:30 p.m.