Chad White bails out South Dakota State with an off-balance buzzer-beater

It's unlikely enough South Dakota State delivered Wednesday's shot of the night. It's even more improbable it wasn't Jackrabbits star Nate Wolters who sank it.

With South Dakota State trailing North Dakota by two in the closing seconds, Wolters was swarmed by defenders after failing to free himself with a top of the key ball screen, so he handed off to guard Brayden Carlson. There was little space for Carlson either, so the junior whipped a pass to Chad White, who fired a heavily contested left-wing 3-pointer at the buzzer that fell through to give the Jackrabbits an unlikely 71-70 win.

White, a 6-foot-6 junior averaging 8.9 points per game, is getting pretty good at this buzzer-beater thing. He also hit the game-winning 3-pointer for South Dakota State on Nov. 17 in a 78-77 win against Marshall in the 2K Sports Classic in Hempstead, N.Y.

South Dakota State wasn't supposed to need a buzzer-beater against North Dakota, which entered the game with only one victory -- and even that wasn't against a Division I opponent. The Jackrabbits (5-2) are heavy favorites to return to the NCAA tournament out of the Summit League this year, but they admitted after the game they dodged a bullet Wednesday, especially after doing a poor job of executing on the final play for Wolters.

"It feels a little undeserved, I think even our players would say that," South Dakota State coach Scott Nagy told The Argus Leader. "But the one thing I told our guys after the game is, 'Good seasons are made up of games like that, where things aren't exactly going right and you figure out a way to win.'"