SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - Jake Pemberton (Highlands Ranch, Colo.) scored a career-high 16 points and grabbed a career-best nine rebounds as the University of Denver dropped an absolute heartbreaker to the South Dakota State Jackrabbits 54-53 on Monday night at the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center in the Summit League Tournament Semifinals.

The No.6 seed Denver Pioneers (16-15) trailed by eight coming out of halftime and absolutely shocked the 9,735 pro-SDSU crowd by unleashing an 18-0 run to start the second half. The Crimson and Gold held the Jackrabbits without a field goal for the first 11:17 of the second 20 minutes.

The Pioneers led 48-36 with 7:14 remaining after a layup by Joe Rosga (St. Paul, Minn.). From there, Deondre Parks would get No. 2 seed South Dakota State going hitting back-to-back 3s with the second becoming a four-point play after he was fouled.

A Marcus Byrd (Highlands Ranch, Colo.) layup gave DU a 53-47 edge with 2:56 to go, but those turned out to be Denver's final points of the evening. SDSU finished the game on a 7-0 run. The final minute of the game featured wild sequences as Summit League Freshman and Sixth Man of the Year Mike Daum made 1-of-2 free throws to tie the game with 29 seconds on the clock. Denver looked to hold for the last shot of the game but Rosga was bumped off the ball in the paint and as players were diving on the court, a loose ball foul was called on C.J. Bobbitt (Harker Heights, Texas) with two seconds remaining.

Jake Bittle stepped to the line and missed the first before hitting the second. Denver would call a timeout and inbound the ball to Rosga who was fouled by Parks. After a lengthy review, 1.2 seconds was placed on the clock. Rosga, the ninth best free throw shooter in the country, headed to the line to shoot a one-and-one. However after coming up short on the first attempt, the young Pioneers' 2015-2016 season came to a gut-wrenching end.

"Heartbreaking result tonight," head coach Joe Scott said. "We came up one play short, but the fight and grit this team has shown all year is something of which we are very proud."

Both teams came out sluggish from the floor to start the game. SDSU opened an early 6-2 edge and going into the second media timeout with 11:50 remaining in the first half DU had tied it at 6.

Coming out of the media timeout SDSU ran off a 7-0 run with four free throws from Ian Theisen and a 3-pointer from Deondre Parks. A Pemberton jumper would put an end to the run. The Jackrabbits opened up a double-digit advantage 25-14 with just over four minutes remaining. Denver knocked down back-to-back 3s from Pemberton and Byrd in the final three minutes before a Mike Daum putback ended the scoring for the half.

SDSU would take a 30-22 advantage into the locker room.

Both teams struggled from the floor in the first half, Denver shot 34.6 percent (9-of-26) from the floor, while South Dakota State hit for 39.1 percent (9-of-23). The Pioneers went 22.2 percent (2-of-9) from behind the 3-point line, while the Jackrabbits hit for 30.0 percent (3-of-10) in the first 20 minutes of play. SDSU was a perfect 9-of-9 from the foul line while DU hit for 66.7 percent (2-of-3).

Pemberton led DU with seven points in the first half of play. Bobbitt scored six points and grabbed three rebounds. Byrd chipped in with five points.

DU finished the night shooting 40.0 percent (20-of-50), while South Dakota State shot 33.3 percent (15-of-45). The Pioneers ended the game at 35.3 percent (6-of-17) from beyond the arc compared to 26.1 percent (6-of-23) for the Jackrabbits. Denver finished shooting 63.6 percent (7-of-11) from the free throw line to SDSU's 90.0 percent (18-of-20).

Bobbitt finished with 13 points, five rebounds, a career-high four steals and three assists. Byrd chipped in with 10 points and six rebounds, while Rosga finished with nine points and a career-high tying four steals.

SDSU was led by Daum who scored 15 points and grabbed eight rebounds, while Parks chipped in 14 points.

Notes: The Pioneers have now hit a 3-pointer in 316 consecutive games. Byrd played in his 122^nd game moving into a tie with former Pioneer Chase Hallam for fourth all-time. He also passed Hallam for ninth all-time on 3-pointers made at Denver. The game was the final one for the senior class of Nate Engesser (Colorado Springs, Colo.), Bryant Rucker (Frisco, Texas) and Byrd.