Highlights from South Dakota State's 78-75 win over Oral Roberts.
BROOKINGS – The Oral Roberts Golden Eagles earned the attention of the rest of the Summit League by starting conference play with three straight victories, and that made Thursday’s trip to Frost Arena to challenge preseason favorite South Dakota State a suddenly intriguing matchup.
Were the Eagles for real? Could they knock off a Jackrabbit team that was unbeaten at home? How would SDSU deal with ORU’s overpowering size and perplexing zone defense?
As it turned out, the Eagles are indeed for real – as the first half of this game was not only some of the most entertaining basketball that’s been played at Frost in awhile, it saw ORU take control early and show they were in Brookings to win.
But proving themselves a worthy opponent and winning the game are two distinctive pursuits, and the Eagles were unable to achieve the latter, as the Jackrabbits held on for a 78-75 win in front of 2,221 fans.
The Eagles clawed back from down 12 to get within one with 2:34 to play. They were down two when SDSU’s David Jenkins lined up for a 3-pointer with 23 seconds to go, and after he missed Tevin King grabbed the offensive rebound and ORU inexplicably let 16 seconds run off the clock before fouling. Jenkins hit one of two free throws, and ORU’s attempt at a court-length pass with five seconds left fell incomplete.
“We knew they were a good program that played a tough non-conference schedule that got them ready for the Summit League,” said SDSU forward Reed Tellinghuisen, who played 36 minutes and scored 24 points. “It was obviously a big game – putting the winner in first place. Both teams were excited for it and we were fortunate to come out on top.”
The Eagles, in their first season under coach Paul Mills, presented challenges that SDSU doesn’t typically see in the Summit League, and that came in the form of their inside muscle. Javan White (6-foot-10), Albert Owens (6-9, 260), Emmanuel Nzekwesi (6-8, 230) and Chris Miller (6-8, 260) made their presence felt on both ends of the floor, and it took the Jacks awhile to adjust.
“Their length was bigger than we thought,” said Jacks center Mike Daum, who had 27 points and 11 rebounds. “We knew the game was gonna be physical and we knew rebounding and boxing out would be a huge key. To be physical and kind of hit them back was a goal and we did a good job of that.”
As the Jacks (15-5, 3-0) struggled to solve ORU’s zone – they frequently left the middle of the lane open, tempting SDSU to take 15-foot jumpers from head on, a shot Tellinghuisen admitted is not an ideal one – the Eagles were able to establish early control, taking a 25-16 lead. That’s when Jacks coach TJ Otzelberger turned to Brandon Key, a point guard who’d played all of one minute in SDSU’s first two conference games.
He played the rest of the first half, and saw SDSU go from nine down to up one at the break. Otzelberger hadn’t necessarily planned on turning Key loose in this one, but played a hunch and saw it pay off. In 18 minutes off the bench Key didn’t attempt a single shot, but had seven assists against just one turnover.
“Being the great coach that I am I thought we’d play bigger and try to match them physically,” Otzelberger said wryly. “But as the game went on I just didn’t like the pace and wanted to shake things up. Brandon, to his credit, was ready for the moment and the opportunity and took a great sense of pride in pushing the pace and spraying the ball around.”
Jenkins had 15 points for SDSU, as the Jacks shot a modest 10-of-27 from deep (37 percent). But they outscored the Eagles 16-5 at the line, and, most impressively, outrebounded them 37-34 and 11-10 on the offensive glass.
“It’s been a while since we’ve been outrebounded,” said Mills, whose team shot 47 percent but just 6-of-22 from outside. “(SDSU) was right around 300th (in the nation) in offensive rebounding and we were top 25, so that’s really disappointing. But anytime you have that kind of free throw disparity it’s tough to win. We have to do a better job of guarding without fouling.”
Miller made 7-of-9 shots inside to lead the Eagles (7-12, 3-1) with 14 points, while White had 13 and Owens 12. ORU heads to Fargo Saturday, in what should be another telling game.
“You go into every game hoping at the end you’re 1-0,” Mills said. “We haven’t put anybody up as the threshold we have to cross. We’ll see how this all plays out at the end, if South Dakota State is the best team. They look that way, but I haven’t seen the other teams. I’m sure South Dakota and North Dakota State have a to stay about that also.”
The South Dakota State men's basketball postgame press conference after defeating Oral Roberts 78-75.
S. DAKOTA ST. 78, ORAL ROBERTS 75
ORAL ROBERTS (7-12)
White 6-11 1-2 13, Nzekwesi 3-6 1-2 8, Miller 7-9 0-0 14, Fuqua 3-10 0-0 6, Kearns 3-12 1-2 8, Owens 5-8 2-2 12, Ruder 2-8 0-0 6, Harris 3-4 0-0 8. Totals 32-68 5-8 75.
S. DAKOTA ST. (15-5)
Daum 9-20 5-5 27, Jenkins 5-13 3-4 15, King 1-1 2-2 5, Flatten 2-5 2-2 7, Tellinghuisen 9-17 4-6 24, Theisen 0-1 0-0 0, Key 0-0 0-0 0, Howell 0-0 0-0 0, Severyn 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 26-59 16-19 78.
Halftime_S. Dakota St. 35-34. 3-Point Goals_Oral Roberts 6-22 (Harris 2-3, Ruder 2-7, Nzekwesi 1-2, Kearns 1-7, Fuqua 0-3), S. Dakota St. 10-27 (Daum 4-7, Tellinghuisen 2-6, Jenkins 2-7, King 1-1, Flatten 1-4, Severyn 0-2). Fouled Out_None. Rebounds_Oral Roberts 30 (White 8), S. Dakota St. 33 (Daum 12). Assists_Oral Roberts 14 (Kearns 5), S. Dakota St. 15 (Key 7). Total Fouls_Oral Roberts 18, S. Dakota St. 10. A_2,221 (6,500).
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