The Williston State College men's basketball team couldn't hold on to a halftime lead and lost its opener 89-86 to Sheridan College on Sunday afternoon at home.

The Tetons led 44-34 at halftime, but Sheridan found its rhythm in the second half.

"This is a good team, and we can at least compete. It's disappointing to lose, but at the same time we're able to compete," said Wiliston State coach Hunter Berg. "We battled some foul trouble that hurt us, we need to be smarter about that next weekend with some big, tough games."

The Tetons extended their lead to as large as 50-36, but the Generals started pushing back and tied he game for the first time in the second half at 64-64 with 9:35 to play. The two teams kept it close down the stretch until Sheridan's Tarrell Crayton hit a pair of free-throws with exactly one minute to play to put his team ahead 86-79.

The Tetons rallied when Hrvoje Volevic hit his first basketball of the game, a 15-foot jumper from the baseline, and freshman Jake Reynen debuted on the scoring chart with a three-pointer to bring Williston State within one point with 21.6 seconds to play. They finally had their chance to tie it with the ball, down 89-86, with 19.9 seconds left. But the Sheridan defense did a strong job of denying the outside shot until Volevic finally got a chance but missed from the corner with three seconds left.

The Tetons' returning starters led the scoring, with 23 points from Charli Chapman and 15 each from Shamile Jeffers and Luke Martinez. Minneapolis sophomore transfer Rarrell Clark had 15 points as well for Williston State.

"We didn't play well in the second half, particularly about a five-minute stretch there where there were three layups that we missed," Berg said. "We did a poor job on the defensive rebounding, and they beat us. They beat us."

Williston State travels to Casper, Wyo., next Friday and Saturday.

Sheridan 89,

Williston State 86

Williston State stats

Charlie Chapman 6-12 8-9 23; Tarrell Clark 28 11-15 15; Daryl Duncan 0-1 0-0 0; Jarek Hanson 0-3 0-0 0; Mario Hawkins 0-5 2-4 2; Lavardo Hepburn 0-2 0-0 0; Shamile Jeffers 6-10 3-6 15; Luke Martinez 5-10 4-5 15; Matt Kvernum 1-1 0-0 2; Jake Reynen 1-4 0-0 3; Hrvoe Volevic 1-2 0-0 2.