Jacks down Aggies for World Vision Classic Title

Saturday, December 20

Logan, Utah

9:05 PM

South Dakota State University

Utah State

12/21/2014 12:56:00 AM | Men's Basketball

By: SDSU Sports Info

LOGAN, UTAH – Utah State entered Saturday's World Vision Classic title game with a 51-1 all-time record in home tournaments, but ended the night with a 51-2 mark, as South Dakota State hung on for a 68-65 overtime win at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum in Logan, Utah.

George Marshall earned tournament MVP honors and Cody Larson earned an all-tournament team nod for the Jackrabbits, who won their seventh straight game to improve to 9-3 on the season. The host Aggies fall to 6-5 with the loss.

“For (Marshall) not to have played for over a year and to come in here and put in the minutes he put in is really incredible, and I'm really proud of him, the players are proud of him, he's a likeable guy and his teammates love him, it's amazing what he did for us,” head coach Scott Nagy said. “We just need a day off tomorrow, I told the guys that there's nothing tomorrow; no basketball, no film, we're not gonna talk about it, we just need a day off!”

The Jackrabbits won the tip and scored on their first possession, but the Aggies scored the next 11 points to take a commanding 11-2 lead early, but the Jacks kept battling, and used a 7-0 spurt to regain the lead at 24-22 on a Cody Larson put-back with 4:34 on the first-half clock. That lead held until the final minute, when the Aggies tied the game at 28 for the final points of the half.

SDSU used another short 7-0 run to take a 40-33 lead with just under 14 minutes left in regulation, and then slowly pushed that lead to 15 points at 61-46 on a Zach Horstman 3-pointer with 5:45 on the clock.

Horstman's triple represented the final Jackrabbit points in regulation, as the hosts closed the half on a 15-0 run to tie the contest at 61, and a Jake Bittle put-back at the buzzer circled the rim before falling out.

Undaunted by the flurry of Aggie points, the Jackrabbit scored the first seven points in overtime, five of them from Deondre Parks, who scored 15 of his team-high 17 points in the second half and overtime.

The Jackrabbits didn't score again in the extra frame, but Utah State could only muster four free throws in the period.

In addition to Parks, Larson finished with 16 points eight rebounds. Horstman added nine points, while both Marshall and Lane Severyn scored eight, a career-high for Severyn. Bittle finished with five points, but added a game- and career-high 12 rebounds.

USU's David Collette scored a game-high 19 points in the loss, while Jalen Moore added 14 points and nine rebounds to lead the Aggies.

SDSU remains in Utah, but heads south to Salt Lake City for its next game, when the Jacks face Utah on Tuesday at 7 p.m. MT, 8 p.m. CT.

NOTES: Saturday's win marked SDSU's first win over Utah State leads in five meetings … SDSU last won a three-team multi-team event in 2011, when they won all three games at the CBE Classic in Macon, Ga. … Utah State last lost a game in a home tournament in 1971 … SDSU improves to 2-0 in overtime games this season, to 33-37 all-time in overtime and to an even 14-14 in overtime under Nagy … The Jacks also even their record to 1-1 this season when tied at halftime and to 2-2 on the road and to 4-0 when Larson fouls out of the game