GEORGE TOWN, Cayman Islands – South Dakota State and Boise State played down to the wire with the Broncos coming away with an 83-82 victory over the Jackrabbits on Monday, Nov. 25, in the semifinals of the Cayman Islands Classic at John Gray Gymnasium.
Boise State led by as many as nine in the first half, but SDSU worked into the deficit as the opening 20 minutes came to a close. A Jaden Jackson 3-pointer with 10 seconds left made it a 44-42 contest in favor of the Broncos heading into the halftime break.
It was a back-and-forth affair in the second half. The Jackrabbits held three-point leads on four occasions before consecutive field goals by Oscar Cluff and Joe Sayler put SDSU ahead 65-60 with the clock just under 11 minutes to go.
The Broncos responded with an 8-0 scoring run to jump back on top, 68-65. It took until the 3:51 mark for the Jackrabbits to again get ahead in the score column, behind an Owen Larson 3-pointer, by a 75-74 score with 3:51 to play.
Boise State drained a 3-pointer with 2:15 on the clock to make it an 81-78 game. A pair of free throws by Cluff, and one from Sayler, again tied the score at 81 with 1:17 to play.
The Broncos’ Javan Buchanan made a layup with just over a minute remaining to give Boise State a two-point advantage. Both sides traded possession before SDSU got the ball back with the clock winding down with 14 seconds on the clock.
SDSU’s ensuing possession saw Larson drive to the rim and get fouled as the clock hit 1.3 seconds. The guard’s first attempt was good and was followed by a Boise State called timeout. Larson’s second attempt bounced around the rim and fell off, giving the Broncos a 83-82 victory in the process.
Boise State advanced to the multi-team event championship game while improved to 5-1 overall. SDSU moves into Tuesday’s third-place matchup and is now 5-2.
NOTES
- The two sides played a nearly even contest across the board. Boise State outshot SDSU 47.5-45.9% from the floor and had a 36-35 rebounding edge. The Jackrabbits were percentage point ahead of Boise State in 3-point percentage, but Boise State knocked down 11 to SDSU’s eight made. SDSU was 17-for-25 (72%) from the charity stripe while Boise State went 13 of 14 (92.9%)
- The Jackrabbits finished the matchup with a season-low six turnovers. The meeting featured 17 lead changes and 13 tie scores.
- SDSU was led in scoring with 19 points apiece by Oscar Cluff and Joe Sayler. Cluff registered his fifth double-double of the season as he grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds. Sayler was 8 of 14 shooting and had three assists.
- Kalen Garry scored 13 points for SDSU and had a team-high five assists. He was followed by Mors and Larson with nine each and Jackson who scored seven.
- The Broncos had four-double digit scorers and were paced by a career-high 28 points from Buchanan. SDSU’s three leading scorers coming into the game in Tyson Degenhart, Andrew Meadow and O’Mar Stanley were a combined 5 of 16 from the field for 18 points.
UP NEXT
South Dakota State closes out its stay at the Cayman Islands Classic on Tuesday. The Jackrabbits will play Missouri State at 4 p.m. CT at John Gray Gymnasium.