Behind Mayo's career-high 41 points, South Dakota State men's basketball beats North Dakota State

North Dakota State needed to make a play.

Trailing 88-85 with 8.2 seconds left in the game, Bison head coach David Richman said when his team threw the inbound pass towards the half-court line, the objective was to "complete the pass, execute to shooters in the corner."

"I'm not going to go much deeper than that," Richman said. "It's just an execution play for us."

NDSU had the setup in mind, it knew where it was going but, again, they lost the one player who it couldn't lose sight of all game (yet, still always did). So, with the ball in the air and no one around him, South Dakota State sophomore guard Zeke Mayo went up and grabbed it.

Mayo secured the steal and then tossed it to a teammate, untucking his shirt, throwing his arms into the air and high-fiving fans down the sideline of Frost Arena on Saturday. South Dakota State's (14-11, 9-4 Summit) 90-85 win over North Dakota State (9-15, 5-4) ended just as it began, with Mayo demanding the ball, going to get it and making a play. Mayo scored a career-high 41 points in the game, which is the second-most points ever scored at Frost Arena and just the eighth 40-point game in Jackrabbits history.

The win is SDSU's third-straight, sweeping the weekend against the Summit League's North Dakota schools as teams across the middle of the conference jockey for the No. 2 seed that the Jackrabbits currently possess. Saturday was only the start of a critical seven-game stretch to end the season, but one that came at the end span of games seemingly moving SDSU's season in the right direction after a late collapse against Western Illinois on Jan. 28. And, through it all, its best player in Mayo has played some of the best basketball of his career.

"Was he ready? Was he not ready? It's kind of what the question was (coming into the season)," said South Dakota State head coach Eric Henderson. "I always knew that he had it in him."

The Bison, behind the play of its multi-talented forward Grand Nelson, got out to as much as a 13-point lead in the first 10 minutes. The Jackrabbits did most of its work inside, with senior forward Matt Dentlinger providing a few early makes to pace SDSU and make the score more favorable. But the interior game is one where the Bison can often find success.

That's not how it always works, South Dakota State forward Matt Dentlinger said, but this game, it was clear the inside-out game wasn't the most effective way for SDSU to score. So, the Jackrabbits looked somewhere else. Behind the 3-point line, Mayo has been playing perhaps the best basketball of his career over the previous seven games. Henderson said a few weeks ago that he’s emerged as a player who (even if most of his attempts are coming from the perimeter) needs to take more difficult shots — the “Alpha."

"We trust Zeke every possession," Dentlinger (17 points, eight rebounds) said, "just like we trust everyone else on the team.

Not many easy opportunities found the Jackrabbits early in the game, but Mayo still zoned in on whatever space he could get. He hit a few 3s, then found a lane to the rim. The Jackrabbits, seemingly as fast as it built it, had erased the early hole yet still couldn’t cut the NDSU lead further than 3 points… which didn’t divert Mayo.

Him looking for his shot, which had gotten the Jackrabbits back in the game, was the only plan SDSU had as the final seconds ticked off before halftime. Mayo dribbled the ball in the perimeter, was guarded tight at the 3-point line, so he stepped back, faded away and still drained it to make it 43-41 Bison.

He had 20 points at halftime. The makes were at such a high volume, the misses were a bit overshadowed, but shot selection and where Mayo gets his points from have never been a part of the conversation — for him or anyone else, Henderson said. Henderson doesn't remember ever telling a player "that's a bad shot." There wasn't a moment of the season that Mayo realized that: Henderson doesn't think Mayo thinks about shot selection, either. Lately, he's just been hitting more.

Mayo was dominant on the ball, yet Henderson still called a few off-ball looks for Mayo (partly to give Mayo a break, partly to give NDSU a different look). And whatever Mayo did Saturday worked.

NDSU picked up the energy, which cut into the lead yet caused them to overplay at times, which Mayo noticed. With the Jackrabbits trailing for the first time since the early-second half, down 68-67, Mayo drove hard towards the hook with the left hand, stopped and dished down low to Dentlinger. Mayo had five assists Saturday and the Jackrabbits had two total turnovers.

"It was easy to get downhill," Mayo said. "I'm trying to go to the open guy when they're open, if I can't find plays myself."

After the game, Mayo waltzed into the press conference with Dentlinger, who was still wearing his jersey. Mayo had changed into a gray SDSU basketball t-shirt, which still had spots soaked with water.

"Sorry, I had to change my clothes," Mayo said with a smile. "They threw water on me."

After losing Baylor Scheierman (transfer to Creighton) and Doug Wilson (graduation) ahead of this season, the Jackrabbits needed someone to provide the types of performances SDSU's best two players on maybe its best-ever team could offer. Sure, Mayo works on making the types of shots he has been making routinely over the last seven contests.

"(But) in practice, (my coaches and teammates) try to install into my head, 'we want the ball in your hands,'" Mayo said. "At the end of the day, it's all trust."

Follow Sioux Falls Argus Leader reporter Michael McCleary on Twitter @mikejmccleary.

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: SDSU men's basketball beats North Dakota State behind Mayo's 41