HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. - South Dakota State got a three-point basket from Chad White with two seconds left in Saturday's game against Marshall at the 2K Sports Classic benefiting Wounded Warrior Project to put the Jackrabbits up 78-77, and it held up, as the Thundering Herd's three-pointer from half court bounced off the rim.
"That really wasn't the shot, the shot was the one we hit before that, which was a designed play for Brayden, and we hit it, and it gave us a chance to win it," head coach Scott Nagy said. "Then we fouled the right person, there was nothing drawn up, they just didn't get back, didn't find Chad and he knocked it down."
The Jackrabbits, who lost both of its games this season on late three-pointers, even their record at 2-2 with the win, while Marshall falls to the same 2-2 record.
"I walked out of there and couldn't believe we won the game, but it was a great win." added Nagy. "I think we found out a lot about our kids in terms of the battle, this is by far the best team we've played this year, and we did everything we could to compete with them on the glass, but coming off of the two losses we have, both on late three-point shots, it would've been easy to fold up our tents when we got down five, but I'm so proud of our team for not giving in."
Brayden Carlson led the way for the Jackrabbits in the win, scoring a career and game-high 23 points, including a 5-for-7 night from long distance, which ties a career mark. He also added four rebounds and three assists. Nate Wolters finished with 22 points and 10 assists to complete his seventh career double-double and second in as many games, adding six rebounds to lead the Jackrabbits.
White, who scored a total of one point in both losses this season, scored 10 points to boost his season total to 21 points in the two wins.
DeAndre Kane led the Thundering Herd with 19 points in the loss. Elijah Pittman added 16 points and a game-high 14 rebounds for Marshall, which won the rebounding battle 42-29, including an 18-10 edge on the offensive glass that resulted in 20 second chance points for the Herd, compared to 10 for the Jacks.
SDSU looks to close out the three day event on Sunday with a win against the University of the District of Columbia at 12:30 p.m. ET, 11:30 a.m. CT.
NOTES: The Jackrabbits improve to 1-0 all-time against Marshall ... Wolters 22 points gives him 1,727 for his career, 89 points shy of passing current Jackrabbit assistant coach Austin Hansen (1,815 points from 1999-2003) for third on the all-time scoring list at SDSU ... his 10 assists gives him 498 for his career, two shy of becoming just the second player in school history with at least 500, Brian Norberg (605 assists from 1995-99) being the only other player to reach the mark ... Zach Horstman made his season debut, his first action since The Summit League Championships semifinals against Southern Utah on March 5, 2012, he went 0-for-1 from the field and grabbed one rebound in seven minutes
