SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – No. 1 South Dakota State fended off a late charge from No. 7 Denver to capture the Summit League Men’s Basketball Tournament with a 76-68 victory over the Pioneers at the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center.
Sophomore William Kyle III recorded his fifth double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds en route to earning Championship MVP honors. Kyle was one of five Jackrabbits to reach double figures as they will go dancing for the second time in three seasons.
Zeke Mayo and Luke Appel each added 16 points to join Kyle III on the All-Tournament Team. Matt Mims and Kalen Garry rounded out that quintet with 11 points a piece.
The Jacks started fast, opening the game on an 11-3 run as Kyle III had three dunks in the opening 5:15 of the game, while the Jackrabbits’ limited the Pioneers to a three-pointer from Touko Tainamo.
SDSU’s next three field goals would be all be from long range as the Jackrabbits started 9-for-15 from the field, while the Pioneers would make just two of their first 12 attempts. The hot shooting start allowed the Jacks to claim a 22-5 midway through the half.
The Pioneers would start to chip away at the deficit for the remainder of the half, but could get it down to only 14 as they trailed 37-23 at the break in their first title-game appearance.
The Jackrabbits started the second half the same way as the first with a Kyle III dunk and would build their lead to as many as 23 with 8:33 to play.
The Pioneers had one last push in them as a 9-0 run pulled them within 12 with 4:27 to play and they had the deficit all the way down to five with 59 seconds to play after Jaxon Brenchley hit a 3-pointer. The Jacks were good enough from the foul stripe down the stretch to not let DU get any closer.
Brenchley led the Pioneers with 20 points and the Jacks held Tommy Bruner, the nation’s leading scorer, to 17 points. DeAndre Craig rounded out a trio of double figure scorers with 12 points.
The Jackrabbits will find out their next destination on Sunday, March 17 when the NCAA Men’s Selection Show airs at 6 p.m. CT on CBS.
All-Tournament Team
Luke Appel, South Dakota State
Tommy Bruner, Denver
Frankie Fidler, Omaha
William Kyle III, South Dakota State (MVP)
Zeke Mayo, South Dakota State
Turning Point
Kyle III dunked home the first two points and had two more in the opening stretch of the game to help SDSU race out to an 11-3 lead.
Inside the Box Score
- SDSU shot 50 percent from the floor in the first half and went 6-for-13 from deep while holding DU to a 36 percent clip as the Pioneers went just 2-for-12 from beyond the arc.
- Kyle III finished with his fifth double-double of the season and first of the tournament, scoring 15 points and pulling down 12 rebounds.
- Mayo finished with 16 points on the strength of five 3-pointers and a field goal. He only missed twice and added six rebounds and three assists.
News & Notes
- South Dakota State won its second title in the past three seasons as the Jacks were the No. 1 seed in each of those appearances. Prior to that, the program had won the title three out of five times when it was the top seed.
- Denver was just the third No. 7 seed to play in the 40th edition of the Summit League Men’s Basketball Tournament. Those teams are now 1-2 with Oakland earning the only title from that seed line in 2005 (61-60 over No. 1 Oral Roberts).
- The Jackrabbits will take an eight-game winning streak into the NCAA Tournament.
- DeAndre Craig scored 12 points and reached double figures in all three tournament games. He ended his freshman season with a streak of four-straight, which was his longest of the season.