BROOKINGS – South Dakota State built a 24-point lead early in the second half and later overcame a long scoreless stretch during a 78-61 defeat of Alabama State on Thursday night at Frost Arena.
The Jackrabbits shot a sizzling 60.9 percent (17-of-28) from the field in the first half, closing the period on an 11-2 run to grab a 54-38 advantage at intermission.
David Jenkins hit a pair of 3-pointers to open the second half. The margin peaked at 24 – 65-41 – with 14:45 remaining.
Daum hit a jumper with 11:58 showing on the clock as SDSU was on top 70-49.
The Jackrabbits didn’t score again until the 4:41 mark – a span of 7 minutes, 17 seconds – however, they only allowed eight points during the drought as the home team still led 73-57 following a Skyler Flatten trey.
“That wasn’t the prettiest game I’ve ever been a part of on either end,” said SDSU coach T.J. Otzelberger. “I’m proud of our guys for the way they came out. I thought we had great energy at the start, but that faded throughout the course of the game. I felt like our offensive execution was really good, especially in the first half. Defensively, we weren’t quite where we wanted to be.
“We’re continuing to preach to our guys that we’re playing against ourselves and trying to be at our best, and certainly that wasn’t the case there in the second half and they had a lot to do with that. Their zone – we hadn’t seen a lot of zone up to this point or spent a lot of time working on it; that’s something we definitely need to commit to. But credit to them for mixing it up and putting us on our heels.”
Daum posted a double-double of 23 points and 13 rebounds to go with four assists.
Flatten scored the game’s first six points and finished the night with 17.
“I thought we competed in the first half,” the senior from Clark said. “We kind of lost a couple assignments but I felt like we did a good job competing and sharing the ball.”
Tevin King had 12 points, five boards, five dimes and three steals. Matt Dentlinger totaled 10 points and seven rebounds. David Jenkins finished with six points in 25 minutes.
SDSU finished 23-of-25 at the free-throw line – the Hornets went 8-of-17 – and held a 41-26 advantage on the glass.
“In these early games, you see so many different things,” said Otzelberger. “We didn’t shoot great from the foul line last game and we turned it over a fair amount; in this game, we took a little bit better care of the ball (11 turnovers) and shot it well from the foul line, but I think offensively we sputtered at times and I don’t think we did as good of a job offensively as we did the other night.
“So there are learning opportunities, there are teachable moments from film and things we’ll continue to improve upon as we move forward.”
For ASU (0-2), Jacoby Ross canned seven 3s while scoring a game-high 25 points.
South Dakota State (2-0), which has won 22 in a row at home, is host to Division II Bemidji State on Saturday at 4 p.m.
Notes
Three Jackrabbit reserves combined to play 41 minutes – up from 16 minutes in the opener. Alex Arians (6 and 5) and Alou Dillon (4 and 3) combined for 10 points and eight rebounds. … Otzelberger improved to 48-24 at SDSU, a .667 winning percentage.
Daum
In Summit League history, he moved from eighth to sixth in career rebounds (877) and eighth to seventh in career points (2,275).
SOUTH DAKOTA STATE 78, ALABAMA STATE 61
Alabama State (0-2)
Leon Daniels 2-3 0-0 5, Branden Johnson 5-5 0-3 10, Jacoby Ross 9-20 0-0 25, Austin Rogers 0-3 0-0 0, Reginald Gee 2-11 5-6 9, Therrell Gosier 1-3 1-2 4, Gene Davis 0-2 0-1 0, Tobi Ewuosho 1-2 1-3 3, Ed Jones 0-0 0-0 0, Fausto Pichardo 2-4 1-2 5. Totals 22-53 8-17 61.
South Dakota State (2-0)
Mike Daum 7-16 7-7 23, Matt Dentlinger 4-10 2-2 10, Skyler Flatten 6-12 3-4 17, Tevin King 4-4 3-4 12, David Jenkins 2-7 0-0 6, Alou Dillon 0-1 4-4 4, Owen King 0-0 0-0 0, Alex Arians 1-3 4-4 6. Totals 24-53 23-25 78.
Halftime – SDSU 54-38. 3-point goals – ASU 9-22 (Ross 7-15, Daniels 1-1, Gosier 1-2, Davis 0-1, Gee 0-3), SDSU 7-22 (Daum 2-6, Flatten 2-6, Jenkins 2-6, T. King 1-1, Dentlinger 0-1, Arians 0-2). Rebounds – ASU 26 (Gosier 5), SDSU 41 (Daum 13). Assists – ASU 5 (Ross 2), SDSU 15 (King 5). Steals – ASU 5 (Gee 2), SDSU 5 (T. King 3). Blocks – ASU 5 (Johnson, Gosier 2), SDSU 2 (Flatten, Dillon 1). Turnovers – ASU 9, SDSU 11. Total fouls – 22, SDSU 20. Fouled out – none. Technical fouls – none. A – 2,277.
