FARGO-Two straight losses and a key player quitting the team, North Dakota State was in need of putting its season into reverse gear on Wednesday night. They got it by the narrowest of margins.
The University of South Dakota's Shy McClelland will probably never have a shot in his college basketball career come as close to going in as what he had with three seconds remaining at Scheels Arena. His team was trailing by a point.
For Bison fans, it was like watching a golfer you don't want to win on the 18th hole rim a putt in and out.
"I think I waved at it a bit to blow it off the rim," Bison forward Kory Brown said. "I jumped twice before it came off. It was sitting up there and I'm like 'just come off the rim please' and it happened to come off."
It came off and the Bison escaped with a 66-65 Summit League victory before 3,153 fans. NDSU continued to keep USD winless in Fargo since the 2001-02 season (they didn't play for eight years because of the Division I reclassification) and moved to 2-2 in the conference.
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The Bison had to adjust their rotation when guard Carlin Dupree left the team earlier this week, something that weighed on the team in the aftermath.
"It's been a lot of adversity," Brown said. "It was just getting to the gym and staying with each other and keeping our spirits up. Keeping everybody's motor running is what we needed. We got a way with one."
The Bison almost saw a 16-point second half lead disappear. NDSU did not score in the last 2 minutes, 48 seconds of the game, but still had a 66-63 lead with under a minute. Two missed shots were followed by two Dexter Werner offensive rebounds, but Paul Miller turned it over with 40 seconds left. McClelland's bucket with 21 seconds remaining made it a one-point game.
Guard Khy Kabellis, on the other end, missed the front end of a bonus free throw, giving the Coyotes a shot. Casey Kasperbauer, who led USD with 19 points, missed a 15-foot jumper, but the Coyotes got the offensive rebound.
McClelland drove the lane, pump faked and put up a shot in traffic.
"We couldn't have gotten two better looks," USD head coach Craig Smith said. "Kasperbauer was not wide open but clean. McClelland is a phenomenal finisher. That shot hit every single part of the rim; it looked like it was halfway down."
It made Brown's career high of 21 points and 15 rebounds stand up. He had a double-double in the first half alone with 16 points and 10 rebounds.
If there was a question how NDSU was going to pick up the slack with the loss of Dupree's minutes, the Bison had Kabellis and forward A.J. Jacobson play all 40 minutes and Miller 37.
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They looked fresh in the first half when the Bison took a 35-26 halftime lead, maintained it for the first five minutes of the second half and then got back-to-back 3-point field goals from Kabellis and Miller to take a 46-33 advantage.
Later, another 3 from Miller made it a 16-point advantage at about the midway point of the second half.
But the Coyotes made their biggest splash of the game starting an 11-0 run almost three minutes later. Defense was the catalyst with a full-court press, giving the Bison problems and USD got within 59-54.
"We showed our youth and inexperience at times," Bison head coach Dave Richman said. "But I'm proud of our guys for finding a way."
Those comfortable 3-point attempts the Bison were getting-they were 9 of 14 at one point-suddenly disappeared. And, so too, did the outcome-almost.
"(The press) bothered us a little bit," Kabellis said. "It took us out of our rhythm offensively and allowed them to get back in the game."
USD (9-10, 1-4 Summit): Robertson 1-3 0-0 2, Burnette 0-6 1-2 1, McClelland 6-10 1-2 14, Kasperbauer 8-15 1-1 19, Davis 3-7 2-2 8, Norris 4-6 0-0 9, Dickerson 0-0 0-0 0, Flack 0-4 0-0 0, Hagedorn 1-1 0-0 3, Jech 2-5 0-0 4, Sparks 2-3 1-2 5. Totals: 27-60 6-9 65.
NDSU (12-6, 2-2 Summit): Jacobson 2-7 8-8 13, D. Miller 0-1 0-0 0, P. Miller 5-16 0-0 14, Kabellis 4-7 0-1 11, Brown 7-8 6-8 21, Kading 1-5 0-0 2, Werner 2-7 0-1 4. Totals: 21-51 14-18 66.
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Halftime: NDSU 35, USD 26. Total fouls: USD 18, NDSU 14. Fouled out: none. Rebounds: USD 28 (Davis 7); NDSU 39 (Brown 15). 3-point goals: USD (Burnette 0-2, Kasperbauer 2-4, Davis 0-1, Norris 1-1, Hagedorn 1-1, Jech 0-1); NDSU 10-22 (Jacobson 1-4, P. Miller 4-8, Kabellis 3-5, Brown 1-2, Kading 1-3). Assists: USD 19 (Davis 7); NDSU 9 (Kabellis 3). Turnovers: USD 11 (Davis 3); NDSU 17 (P. Miller, Brown 4). A-3,153.
