‘Yotes lose late lead against Jackrabbits, SDSU wins 70-68
As an assistant coach, USD men’s basketball interim head coach Joey James saw for the past three years how tough the competition in the Summit League is. As a first year head coach, he can now say he went through the “meat grinder” of that competition.
After seeing his team blow a late lead against the Summit League-leading North Dakota State Bison, James had the challenge of having just two days to prepare his team for the two-time defending conference champions, the South Dakota State Jackrabbits.
James and his team saw a similar script Saturday, as the Coyotes fell victim to their sixth loss of five points or less on the season, falling 70-68.
“I thought it was a great game. Unfortunately, we came out on the wrong end,” James said. “We made a great comeback but it wasn’t enough. Disappointed in the loss.”
In the game, SDSU senior point guard Brayden Carlson eclipsed the 1,000-point mark for his career, becoming the 45th Jackrabbit to do so. He had a game-high 22 points on 8-11 shooting. SDSU head coach Scott Nagy said he was proud of the former walk-on.
“Brayden has worked so hard on his game throughout his time here,” Nagy said. “He’s a good athlete, but I wouldn’t call him a great athlete. He’s spent a lot of time in the gym working on his game.”
The Jackrabbits got off to a good start, taking a 12-7 lead early on, but the Coyotes responded and eventually took a 32-26 lead late in the first half.
After falling behind by 20 in the first half the past two years and eventually going on to lose, Carlson said it was key for SDSU to not face an early deficit this time around.
“The Dome always has a good atmosphere,” Carlson said. “It was important for us to not fall behind. Within the first five minutes, the home team either feeds off the crowd’s energy or the energy gets sucked out of the gym.”
The Coyotes would go on to take a 32-31 lead at the half, lead by sophomore guard Casey Kasperbauer’s eight points.
One of the keys to the first half was the pace of the game. The Coyotes were able to dictate the pace by the legs of sophomore point guard Trey Norris. The Coyotes were at their best on Saturday when Norris was pushing the ball up the floor. The opposite goes for the Jackrabbits, who began to control the pace in the second half by playing a slower, half-court style game.
SDSU went on an 18-10 run to open the second half. The Jackrabbits were out-rebounded in the game 32-22. Senior center Trevor Gruis said that’s on him and the other big men and that it’s unacceptable.
SDSU had a clear size advantage all game long. SDSU senior forward Jordan Dykstra finished with a double double, scoring 16 points and grabbing 11 rebounds.
James said Dykstra is a talented player, and he wasn’t sure what USD could’ve done better to slow him down.
“I’m not sure what you can do when he pounds it on the floor six times then goes straight into our guys to draw a foul. I don’t have an answer for that,” James said.
Dysktra only shot 3-10 from the floor but was 10-12 from the free throw line.
The Coyotes went on to fall behind by 15 in the second half but stormed all the way back. They had an opportunity to tie the game up with six seconds to go but senior wing Tyler Larson lost control of the ball as he was dribbling up the floor.
“No offense to Tyler, but he isn’t the guy that should be handling the ball in that situation,” James said. “I tried to call a timeout but it was too late.”
USD will have to rebound and make sure to not lose confidence after now losing four straight games in the conference.
“During the three game winning streak, I kept reiterating to the guys that you can lose three straight as quick as you win three straight,” Gruis said. “We’ve now lost four straight. We’ll be all right; we’re a tight-knit group of guys. We’ll bounce back.”
The men will be back in action Tuesday at home against Peru State. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.
