Jacks rally at IPFW comes up short

Saturday, February 20

Fort Wayne, Ind.

2 p.m. ET

South Dakota State University

IPFW

2/20/2010 5:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball

By: SDSU Sports Info

FORT WAYNE, Ind. - South Dakota State trailed by 23 points midway through the second half of Saturday's men's basketball matinee against IPFW, and even though the Jackrabbits battled back to make it a three-point game with 23 seconds to play, they eventually fell by the score of 78-72.

"I was really pleased that our guys didn't quit, because for 35 minutes of the game we weren't very good, and our kids really, really worked hard," SDSU head coach Scott Nagy said after the game. "A play here and a play there and we made some nice steals and had chances, so you just go back to details."

The loss drops the Jacks to 13-14 on the season overall, 9-7 in league play, IPFW improves to 14-13 overall, 9-8 in league play.

Kai Williams led four Jackrabbits in double figures with 16 points, and moves into the top-10 in all-time scoring at SDSU with 1,381 career points. Garrett Callahan 13 points and enters the final week of the regular season ranked sixth on the SDSU career scoring charts with 1,421 points. Nate Wolters and Clint Sargent both scored 11 points in the loss, which leaves Sargent just five points away from the 1,000-point milestone.

Jeremy Mixon led IPFW and all players with 17 points off the bench, Nick Daniels added 14, Ben Botts 12 and John Peckinpaugh 10 points in the win. Deilvez Yearby pitched in with eight points and a game-high 11 rebounds.

The teams played close early, but the Mastodons took a 41-28 lead into the lockerroom at halftime thanks in large part to some hot three-point shooting. The 'Dons went 8-of-11 from long distance in the first half, compared to just a 1-of-10 effort from the Jacks.

IPFW stayed hot early in the second half to build the lead to 23 points before the Jacks mounted a comeback, but it came a little too late, as the Mastodons made their free throws late to secure the win, and keep the Jacks winless all-time at Memorial Coliseum.

With the road portion of the schedule in the books, SDSU returns home next weekend to close out the regular season, starting with Western Illinois on Thursday at 7 p.m. and against IUPUI on Saturday in the back end of a doubleheader at 7:30 p.m.