BROOKINGS, S.D. – North Dakota's last two visits to Frost Arena have produced some dramatic finishes, unfortunately it was South Dakota State that came out the victors both times. This time the Jackrabbits erased a 15-point halftime deficit to rally for a 74-72 victory over UND Friday.

Two years ago, Chad White drilled a desperation 3-pointer at the buzzer to lift the Jacks to a 71-70 win. This time it was UND that had a chance at a buzzer-beater.

Leading by three with five seconds to go after converting a 3-point play, the Jacks opted to foul Estan Tyler before he could get a look from deep to tie the game.

Tyler would make his first free throw and miss the second on purpose. The rebound caromed off the leg of UND's Josiah Coleman to give possession to SDSU with two seconds on the clock.

Coleman would get his fourth steal of the game on the ensuing inbounds pass just over halfcourt and alertly find Tyler in time for a desperation look from 40-feet that fell just short at the buzzer.

“We let this one slip away,” UND head coach Brian Jones said. “In those first four minutes of the second half, I don't think we competed like we did in the first half. We got back on our heels and let them get back in it. Our guys played hard and battled, but if we make some free throws in the second half we win that game.”

Tyler, who missed the first two games of the season with an injury, finished with 17 points off the bench in his UND debut. Senior Jaron Nash had a team-high 18 points for UND with 14 of those coming in the first half when the visitors built a 44-29 lead.

Senior Chad Calcaterra also contributed with 13 points, which is his highest output in a UND uniform.  

UND led from the outset when Calcaterra scored the game's opening basket and Terrel de Rouen followed with a layup to put the Green and White up 4-0. UND's lead would grow to as many as 17 in the first half, but the Jacks would gradually chip away at that deficit.

A 7-0 spurt by SDSU to start the second half got the home crowd back in the game and Jake Bittle and Cody Larson came up big down the stretch. Bittle had half of his 12 points in the closing three minutes and it was his only 3-point shot of the game that tied the score at 65-65 to set up a frantic finish.

Tyler would give UND the lead back at 67-65 with a runner in the lane, but Larson, who finished with 15 points, scored four straight to give his team its first advantage at 69-67 with a turnaround jumper just over a minute later.

From there, de Rouen would tie the game with a driving layup, but was whistled for a technical foul for apparently taunting the Jacks after the made field goal. Anders Broman would make only of the free throws, but after UND missed, the Jacks would get to the line again.

Larson made only one again putting the score at 71-69 with 50 seconds to play. JUCO transfer Josiah Coleman scored his first points of the game for UND on a layup to even things up at 71-71, but Bittle would put his team up for good with five seconds to go on a made floater that he turned into a 3-point play.

Deondre Parks led SDSU with 19 points as the Jacks went 13-for-25 from the field in the second half. Parks had 11 points in the closing 20 minutes.

UND shot 54 percent from the floor for the game, but only made free throws at a 55.2 percent clip, including an 8-for-17 showing in the second half. 

Nash had a team-high eight boards as UND held a 31-27 edge in that category. 

UND returns to action next week in Salt Lake City as part of a multi-team. Utah is the host and action starts on Wednesday for the Green and White as they play Alabama State at 9:30 p.m. CT.

-- UND --