BROOKINGS – South Dakota State handled North Dakota State, 87-69, during Summit League men’s basketball action Thursday night at Frost Arena.
The Jackrabbits built a 16-3 advantage 5 1/2 minutes into the game and the Bison never really threatened.
“I thought there was great energy in the building tonight,” said SDSU coach T.J. Otzelberger. “We’re really fortunate to have such great fans that came out. I thought that led to us having energy from the start and I was really happy with our guys after the layoff – having not had a game in eight days and to come out with great energy.
“So credit the crowd, credit our guys with the energy because I thought that set the tone for the night and put us in position to win the game.”
Mike Daum (30) and David Jenkins (25) combined for 55 points.
Daum was 11-of-15 from the field, including 4-of-6 from long range, and added 17 rebounds to complete the double-double.
“We knew that they were going to bring the double a little bit but Coach did a great job of drawing plays to just get kind of quick hitters on the inside,” said Daum. “So that led to me just getting quick baskets on the inside.”
The Bison pulled within eight points twice following the slow start.
However, Jenkins hit a 3-pointer to make 22-11 with 10:47 to go in the half and the margin remained in double digits the rest of the game.
“Obviously, you have to give South Dakota State a ton of credit; they proved why they’re the class of the league and we faced them coming off of a week break where they had fresh legs and great energy, and you saw that,” said NDSU coach David Richman. “I thought we had some good looks early at the rim – inside out – and we missed them. When we’re not efficient offensively if affects who we are defensively. And when you get a good team like that going, they’re hard to get stopped.”
The Jackrabbits closed the first half with seven consecutive points – Skyler Flatten knocked down a trey and Daum added a pair of buckets – to make it 44-25 at the break.
Daum canned a 3-ball 10 seconds into the second half as the lead was 20 or more for a majority of the period, peaking at 77-52 with 5:37 to play.
SDSU shot 54 percent (34-of-63) from the field and hit 11 3-pointers. NDSU ended up at 40.7 percent (24-of-59).
Flatten added 16 points and Tevin King had eight to go with seven assists. Alex Arians dished out six dimes.
The Bison’s Tyson Ward posted a double-double of 18 points and 12 boards. Reserves Deng Geu and Cameron Hunter added 12 and 11 markers, respectively.
South Dakota State (16-6, 6-1) faces Omaha (12-8, 6-1) in the back end of a Pork Classic doubleheader on Saturday at 4:15 p.m. The Jackrabbits and Mavericks are tied atop the league standings.
North Dakota State (9-12, 3-4) takes on Oral Roberts on Saturday at 7 p.m. in Tulsa, Okla.
Notes
With 2,770 career points, Daum passed Duke’s J.J. Reddick (2,769 from 2002-06) for 19th place on the NCAA Division I all-time scoring list. … Daum has 1,096 rebounds and 249 3-pointers in his career. … Jenkins has 981 career points.
SOUTH DAKOTA STATE 87, NORTH DAKOTA STATE 69
North Dakota State (9-12, 3-4 Summit)
Rocky Kreuser 1-6 0-0 3, Vinnie Shahid 1-4 0-0 3, Sam Griesel 0-4 3-5 3, Jared Samuelson 1-3 3-3 6, Tyson Ward 8-14 1-1 18, Jaxon Knotek 1-2 0-0 3, Tyree Eady 3-5 0-0 7, Chris Quayle 1-3 0-0 3, Jarius Cook 0-0 0-0 0, Cameron Hunter 4-9 0-0 11, Deng Geu 4-9 4-4 1212, Jordan Horn 24-59 11-13 69.
South Dakota State (16-6, 6-1 Summit)
Mike Daum 11-15 4-5 30, Skyler Flatten 7-13 0-0 16, Tevin King 9-18 3-3 25, David Jenkins 9-18 3-3 25, Alex Arians 1-4 1-2 4, Ryan Krueger 0-0 0-0 0, Alou Dillon 1-1 0-0 2, Beau Brown 0-0 0-0 0, Owen King 1-3 0-0 2, Matt Dentlinger 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 34-63 8-10 87.
Halftime – SDSU 44-25. 3-point goals – NDSU 10-31 (Hunter 3-5, Samuelson 1-2, Knotek 1-2, Shahid 1-3, Ward 1-3, Eady 1-3, Quayle 1-3, Kreuser 1-4, Geu 0-2, Griesel 0-4), SDSU 11-26 (Daum 4-6, Jenkins 4-10, Flatten 2-6, Arians 1-2, O. King 0-2). Rebounds – NDSU 32 (Ward 12), SDSU 35 (Daum 17). Assists – NDSU 14 (Ward, Hunter 4), SDSU 20 (T. King 7). Steals – NDSU 9 (Kreuser 3), SDSU 10 (Jenkins, Arians 3). Blocks – NDSU 1 (Kreuser 1), SDSU 1 (Daum 1). Turnovers – NDSU 18, SDSU 14. Total fouls – NDSU 15, SDSU 14. Fouled out – none. Technical fouls – none. A – 2,578.
