BROOKINGS, S.D.  – The University of Denver men's basketball program led by single digits through most of the second half, but a late South Dakota State run gave the home team an 87-79 win over the Pioneers on Thursday night at First Bank & Trust Arena.
 
LEADERS:
Damon Wilkinson led a group of four Jackrabbits in double figures with 19 on 8-of-11 shooting. Joe Sayler had 18 and Jaden Jackson chipped in 17 to lead the balanced Jackrabbits.
 
Carson Johnson hit five triples on nine attempts and led Denver with 27 points in the Pioneers second-straight loss on the road at a top team in the Summit League preseason poll. Jeremiah Burke had 20 more and pulled down eight rebounds. Logan Kinsey (12) and Zane Nelson (11) also finished in double figures.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED:
First Half:
Denver struggled shooting from the field in the early going, missing on its first three attempts from the field. On the other end, South Dakota State made three of its first four tries and raced out to a 6-0 run. Logan Kinsey went inside and finished at the rim to put a stop to the early run. Carson Johnson found the bottom of the net from midrange, but South Dakota State took an 8-4 lead into the first break.
 
After a 3-for-13 start from the floor that included 0-for-5 from beyond the arc, Jeremiah Burke hit Denver's first triple of the night to cut the deficit in half and send the teams to the under-12 media at 12-9 in favor of South Dakota State.
 
Denver continued to chip away at the early deficit, getting a three from Julius Rollins and a jumper from Burke to trim the margin to 17-16 at the under-8.
 
A Kinsey jumper out of the timeout gave Denver its first lead of the night, and that was quickly followed by another Burke bucket to put Denver ahead 20-17 with 6:34 to play in the opening half. Johnson's first triple of the night stretched that lead to four.
 
The two offenses began to heat up at the end of the half, as Denver went through a stretch of hitting four of five from beyond the arc to push its lead to six at 33-27 with 2:16 to go in the first half. SDSU went on a 6-0 run to tie things up with 15 seconds before Johnson hit a pair from the line with 0.6 on the clock to send Denver into the locker room with the lead.
 
Second Half:
Both offenses opened the second half strong, with Denver knocking down five of its first eight, while the Jacks hit three of their first four shots to put Denver up 46-42 at the under-16.
 
Out of the timeout, Johnson hit another mid-range jumper to extend the Denver lead back to its biggest of the night at six. South Dakota State cut the Denver lead back to two before a Zane Nelson jumper and Johnson's fourth triple of the night pushed Denver's lead right back to six.
 
South Dakota State got the Denver lead to one before Johnson canned points 23 and 24 from the field and Shaun Wysocki turned a turnover into two points from the foul line to restore the Denver lead to five.
 
A pair of SDSU free-throws and the Jacks fourth triple of the night tied things back up at 65 apiece with 7:38 to play. Burke responded with two from the line to put Denver's noses back in-front. Damon Wilkinson hit a pair of layups to put SDSU in the lead.
 
The Jacks continued to ride their newfound momentum, going on a 13-2 run to take their biggest lead of the night at six with 5:36 to go. Johnson hit his fifth triple to tie a season-high against DI opponents this season to trim the margin to two. Matthew Mors answered with a triple on the other end to make SDSU 5-of-7 from beyond the arc in the second half and put the SDSU lead back to five.
 
SDSU converted from the line to get its lead out to nine before a Kinsey layin on the other end made it a seven-point game with two minutes left in regulation. SDSU finished 16-of-21 from the line in the second half to earn the nine-point win.
 
NOTES:
Denver is now 7-25 against South Dakota State in its history, including 1-14 in Brookings.
Thursday night marked the first single-digit margin between the two teams in Brookings since 2019.
Denver fell to 8-1 this season when heading into the intermission in a tie or in-front.
Jeremiah Burke finished with 20 points, 8 rebounds and 2 assists.
Burke finished in double figures for the seventh-straight game, the 14^th time this season and the 16^th time in his career.
Burke finished with 20+ points for the seventh time this season and of his career.
Carson Johnson finished with 27 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals.
Johnson finished in double figures for the sixth-straight game, the 16^th time this season and the 36^th time in his career.
Johnson finished with 20+ points for the eighth time this season and the 20^th time in his career.
Johnson hit 4+ triples for the fifth time this season.
Logan Kinsey finished with 12 points and 5 rebounds.
Kinsey finished in double figures for the 11^th time this season and the 62^nd time of his career.
Kinsey finished in double figures for the first time in league play.
Zane Nelson finished with 11 points and 3 assists.
Nelson finished in double figures for the fifth-straight game, the 10^th time this season and the 36^th time in his career.
 
UP NEXT:
Denver will wrap-up the road trip on Saturday afternoon when the Pioneers travel to South Dakota for a 12 p.m. MT tip. The game will be streamed live on the Summit League Network. DU returns home on Wednesday, January 14 against Oral Roberts. Tip is set for 7 p.m. MT.
 
TICKETS:
Tickets for the 2025-26 season are on sale now, and can be purchased here.
 
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