Feb. 16 -- VERMILLION -- South Dakota State nearly saw its winning streak against rival South Dakota go up in smoke in the final minutes of Sunday's meeting at the Sanford Coyote Sports Center, but in hanging on for a skin-of-their-teeth 94-91 victory, the Jackrabbits embodied the maxim that any conference win on the road is a good one.
The win was SDSU's 10th in a row over the Coyotes, and kept them in close proximity of Summit League leading St. Thomas and Omaha, while USD saw its winning streak end at four just as they prepare for the most difficult stretch of their conference schedule.
The Jacks trailed 15-6 in the opening minutes and had a terrible time trying to weather USD's relentless full-court press, but in the end the exploits of senior center Oscar Cluff and freshman guard Jaden Jackson carried SDSU to just their third road win of the season in 10 tries.
The Jacks led by 15 with 3:39 left in the game, only to see the Coyote comeback present them with a chance to tie the game in the final seconds. But an Isaac Bruns 3-pointer with seven seconds left was no good, and SDSU grabbed the rebound and hit two free throws to put it out of reach.
It was an ugly finish to an otherwise huge win, and the Jacks made no apologies for how they got it.
"That's what happens in a rivalry game," said SDSU forward Matthew Mors. "We were pulling away for a little bit but that's just how it goes sometimes. We had guys step up and play really well, especially in crunch time. We did what we needed to do at the end of the day."
Mors was excellent, scoring 15 points in his return to his home county, but Cluff and Jackson were truly the catalysts. Cluff had 21 points, 16 rebounds and five assists, going 10-of-15 from the floor and grabbing eight of his boards on the offensive end, leading to 19 second-chance points for the Rabbits.
"He's big and physical and knows how to use his body," said Bruns, who led USD with 21 points. "A couple more guys got to get him out of there next time."
Meanwhile Jackson stepped up big for the Jacks off the bench, scoring a career-high 19 points in 21 minutes. He was 7-of-9 from the floor, 4-of-5 from deep and helped the Jacks break the Coyote press when it was causing problems.
"He gave us a crazy boost," Cluff said while seated next to the freshman. He then leaned over and added, "You need to play like that every game."
The Jacks shot 49 percent in the game to USD's 47, and hey also had a 44-30 edge on the boards. The Coyote defense forced 15 turnovers, but the Yotes were just 10-of-30 from deep. They went 7-of-14 in the first half and 3-for-16 in the second. Shot selection was a factor.
"We had a stretch in the second half where we weren't very good defensively and they had a freshman (Jackson) come in and hit some 3s and have the best game of his career so far," said USD coach Eric Peterson, who got 20 points from Quandre Bullock and 16 from Chase Forte. "The biggest thing for us is we've got to have more urgency when we're down, or even when the score is close. We've got to play like that all the time, not just when we're down 15 with three minutes left. Our urgency during that, like, five-minute stretch in the second was awful. We were kind of looking around and then trying to get it all back and once. When you take bad shots it leads to bad defense. We've got to be better. Got to be more focused."
The Jacks return home to host North Dakota State on Wednesday and Kansas City on Sunday, while USD will host St. Thomas Wednesday and visit Omaha on Saturday.
The Coyotes will look to recapture the momentum they built with the four straight wins they had prior to Sunday, while SDSU (18-9, 9-3) will try to keep the pressure on the Tommies and Mavericks. The Jacks may not have finished strong against USD, but that didn't make the bus ride back to Brookings any less enjoyable.
"The Coyotes got off to a great start, had great energy, and knocked us in the mouth a little bit early," said Jacks coach Eric Henderson. "But I'm really proud of how our guys showed resilience, never panicked and battled back. It was just a great basketball game and feel fortunate to be on (the winning) side."