NDSU Men’s Basketball Looking to “Close Out” Game Better Against South Dakota State Thursday

Bison and Jackrabbits are one and two in the conference

FARGO, N.D. — After losing at the buzzer to rival North Dakota, North Dakota State men’s basketball turns its attention to the match up just two days away when the number one team in the Summit League, South Dakota State, comes to the SHAC to face the Bison, who are just a game back of the Jackrabbits in the standings. Two wins to close things out and the Bison take a share of the regular season title.

Match ups with the Jackrabbits over the last two meetings haven’t been kind. NDSU is well aware of what happened last time both sides played in Fargo losing on a half court buzzer beater then in Brookings last month getting the lead down to four with four to go and not sealing the deal.

The focus come Thursday turns to what the Bison can do to finish the game strong.

“Its just staying composed and staying on the attack,” forward Tyson Ward said. “We can get very steady from shooting threes and that’s where I think we’ve improved lately down the line just constantly getting down hill and I think that’s a big key for this weekend.”

Its been an emphasis the last half of conference, pretty much this conference in general has been playing an entire forty minutes of basketball from the tip to when the buzzer hits double zeros,” forward Rocky Kreuser said.

“A lot of the things is just trying not to beat yourself, we’ve go to control the turnovers a little more,” guard Vinnie Shahid said. “We’ve go to control free throws. We’ve got to control box outs. We’ve got to take good shots down the stretch in order to put ourselves in a good situation to win those games.”

That game tips at 8 P.M. Thursday as part of a doubleheader with the women’s game.