NDSU Men’s Basketball Drops to 0-5 on Season

Loss close game with South Dakota State, 77-75

IOUX FALLS, S.D. – (NDSU Athletics) The North Dakota State men’s basketball team trimmed a double-digit deficit down to one point on three different occasions, but ultimately fell 77-75 to South Dakota State on Thursday night at the CU Mortgage Direct Dakota Showcase held at the Sanford Pentagon.

Bison junior Sam Griesel finished with 20 points, eight rebounds and seven assists to lead NDSU. Sophomore Maleeck Harden-Hayes added a career-high 18 points and seven boards.

NDSU (0-5) trailed 33-26 at halftime after falling behind by as many as 14 points in the first half. The Bison stormed back to pull within two points at 47-45 following a three-point play by Rocky Kreuser with 11:35 remaining.

South Dakota State pushed its margin back to 12 at 65-53 with less than six minutes left, but NDSU responded once again. The Bison strung together an 8-0 run on three-pointers from Harden-Hayes and Kreuser and a pair free throws by Griesel, trailing by just one at 68-67 with three minutes remaining.

SDSU led 76-75 following a bucket by Griesel with 12 seconds on the clock. One free throw by the Jackrabbits’ Alex Arians made it 77-75, and NDSU committed a turnover on its final possession to end the game.

Both teams shot 46 percent for the game. NDSU drained 10-of-22 attempts from three-point range, getting three treys apiece from Griesel, Kreuser and Harden-Hayes.

Griesel tied his career-high for scoring, and nearly doubled his previous career-high for assists in a game. Harden-Hayes’ previous career-best scoring output was 11 points at Creighton on Nov. 29 of this season.

Kreuser finished with a season-high 17 points.

NDSU plays South Dakota on Friday night at 8 p.m., then North Dakota on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. in Sioux Falls. While all the contests are among Summit League schools, they do not count in the league standings.