Jacks Winning Streak Snapped at No. 14 Utah

Tuesday, December 23

Salt Lake City, Utah

8:00 PM

South Dakota State University

Utah

12/24/2014 12:24:00 AM | Men's Basketball

By: SDSU Sports Info

SALT LAKE CITY – South Dakota State ran with No. 14 Utah for 15 minutes on Tuesday, but a late first half run propelled the nationally ranked Runnin' Utes to an 80-66 win over the Jackrabbits in front of 10,322 fans at the Jon M. Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City.

The loss drops the Jacks to 9-4 on the season, snapping a seven-game winning streak in the process. Utah improves to 9-2.

“Our guys looked gassed from the start, we just didn't have much to us tonight, and there aren't any excuses for it,” head coach Scott Nagy said. “I want this to bother our guys, the way that we played tonight, and I hope that it does. We're not gonna stand around and use excuses for how long we've been on the road or what's been going on with a couple of guys being sick. If you're gonna play, there aren't any excuses, and both those guys played.”

The teams traded five point spurts to open the game, first the Utes, then the Jacks, but the home team scored the next four to take an early 14-10 lead.

The Jacks came back with the next five to take their first and only lead of the game on a Cody Larson jumper with 13 minutes, 28 seconds left in the opening frame that put them up 10-9, but the Utes scored the next seven points to go up 16-10 with just over 12 minutes left in the half.

The Jackrabbits hung around though, and trailed by just four at 26-22 with just over five minutes left in the first half, but the Runnin' Utes did just that, closing the half on a 19-6 run to take a 45-28 lead into the locker room.

The home team kept its foot on the gas in the second half, pushing the lead to as many as 26 points before the Jacks fought back to cut the lead to the final 14-point deficit.

Larson led a trio of Jackrabbits in double figures with 13 points, and tied for game-high honors with six rebounds. Reed Tellinghuisen added 12 points off the bench, and Zach Horstman 10 points.

Utah's Brekkott Chapman led all players in the game with 22 points. Delon Wright added 17 and Dakarai Tucker 11 points for the Utes in the win.

SDSU gets a couple of days off for Christmas before returning to the road for a game against another nationally ranked team on Sunday, when the Jacks take on No. 23 Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls, Iowa at 2 p.m.

NOTES: Utah leads the all-time series with SDSU 2-0 ... the Jackrabbits fall to 1-9 all-time against ranked teams … the Jacks played a ranked team for the first time since falling to No. 6 Michigan on March 21, 2013 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament … 10 of the 12 Jackrabbits to play in the game scored and 11 of them finished with at least one rebound … SDSU did not lead or tie its opponent in the second half for the first time this season … Larson made his first-career 3-point basket … Ian Theisen scored a career-high seven points … Keaton Moffitt recorded his first block in an SDSU uniform