SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – No. 1 South Dakota State outlasted No. 4 St. Thomas 59-49 in a defensive semifinal battle in the Summit League Men’s Basketball Tournament at the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center. The Jackrabbits will play for their seventh postseason title after being the first team to hold a team under 50 points since North Dakota State in 2016.
Charlie Easley led three Jackrabbits in double figures with 13 points, while Summit League Player of the Year Zeke Mayo added 11 and Luke Appel chipped in with 10. Appel also equaled his career-high with six assists and pulled down six rebounds.
Kendall Blue was the top Tommie in the scoring column, matching Easley with game-high honors at 13. Brooks Allen added 11 as only two Tommies reached double figures in a game SDSU held them to a season-low point total.
St. Thomas held an early 6-2 advantage but the Jackrabbits would settle in after that. SDSU would take its first lead at 8-6 on a triple from redshirt freshman Kalen Garry during a 13-2 run that saw St. Thomas go just 1-for-14 from the field.
SDSU’s lead would eventually grow to 10 at 25-15 before the Tommies would close that gap despite shooting just 27 percent from the field. Raheem Anthony would get the final basket of the half for the Tommies to cut their deficit to 28-25 at the break.
The second half was much of the same for both teams as neither squad shot well from the field. Brooks Allen would drill a triple to cap a 7-0 run for the Tommies to pull within one at 37-36 with 11:46 remaining. Appel, however, would score the next five points as the Jacks would combat UST’s spurt with a 7-0 stretch of their own, which covered just over the next three minutes.
The Tommies had a chance to make it a one possession game with 46 seconds to play but Drake Dobbs could connect only one of three free throw attempts to leave it a five-point deficit for UST.
South Dakota State will play the winner of the Omaha-Denver semifinal that features the No. 6 and No. 7 seeds in the tournament. The 2024 title game is set for 8:30 p.m. CT on CBS Sports Network.
Turning Point
Allen hit a 3-pointer to pull the Tommies within a point with just under 12 minutes to play but Appel sparked a 7-0 run with five straight points and the Jacks held the lead the rest of the way.
Inside the Box Score
- Both teams finished with season-low point totals.
- Appel made multiple 3-pointers in a game for just the fourth time this season, going 2-for-2 from distance.
- Appel had 10 points, six rebounds and equaled his career-high with six assists.
News & Notes
- After three consecutive titles from 2016-18, this is just the second South Dakota State will play for the title since then. The Jackrabbits won it all in 2022.
- The last time both teams finished with 60 points or less in a Summit League Tournament contest was during the 2016 semifinals when South Dakota State defeated Denver 54-53.
- The last time a team was held below 50 points was IUPUI, who lost to North Dakota State 60-45 in the 2016 quarterfinals.
- St. Thomas reached the semifinals in its first two seasons as a League member.
- The Tommies finished with a 20-win season in just their third at the Division I level.