Jackrabbit men open with an 82-76 win

Saturday, November 12

Frost Arena

1:00 PM

South Dakota State University

Western Michigan

11/12/2011 6:17:00 PM | Men's Basketball

By: SDSU Sports Info

The South Dakota State Men's Basketball teams started the season off in style on Saturday at Frost Arena with an 82-76 win over Western Michigan, thanks to career-days from Nate Wolters and Tony Fiegen.

Wolters led the charge and tied for game-high honors with 32 points and then tied a career-high with 11 assists with no turnovers. Fiegen scored 14 of his career-high 16 points.

"We're counting on Chad White and Jordan Dykstra to play bigger roles for us, and they will be," head coach Scott Nagy said. "But to have other kids like Zach Horstman score seven points in nine minutes and play unafraid in the first game he's ever stepped on frost arena floor is fantastic. We can talk about Nate Wolters all day, but we don't need to, he's that good. "

Western Michigan's Matt Stainbrook went 14-for-16 from the floor to lead the 0-1 Broncos with 32 points in the loss. Demetrius finished with 16 points in the loss, while Mike Douglas added 14 points.

Only Wolters and Fiegen scored in double figures for the Jackrabbits, who also got nine points from Brayden Carlson in his first career start and seven points from both Griffan Callahan and the aforementioned Horstman. Callahan also led the Jacks with six rebounds.

Saturday's game saw a total of 12 lead changes and eight tie scores, with five lead changes four ties in the first half before the Broncos took a 36-35 lead into the locker room. WMU almost took a four point lead to the break, but Wolters hit a deep three at the first half buzzer to cut the lead to one point.

The lead changed hands seven more times in the first 10 minutes of the first half, but a three-pointers by Wolters and Carlson in consecutive trips down the floor gave the Jacks a 58-55 lead with 10:38 left to play that they would never relinquish.

The Jacks would lead by as many as eight points in the second half and did not let the Broncos get any closer than two points.

The Jackrabbits return to action on Monday, when they travel to Minneapolis to take on Minnesota at Williams Arena. The Jacks and Golden Gophers tipoff on Monday at 7 p.m.

NOTES: The Jackrabbits improved to 4-4 in season-opening games at the Division I level, with wins in the last three openers ... each head coach drew a technical foul in the second half ... Wolters' 32 points gives him 939 for his career, leaving him just 63 points shy of becoming the 42nd member of the SDSU 1,000-Point Club ... Wolters recorded his fourth career double-double in the game ... Wolters also recorded 11 assists at Minnesota on Dec. 23, 2010 and at home against IUPUI on Feb. 10, 2011 ... Fiegen breaks his previous high of 14 points at home against Southwest Minnesota State on Nov. 18, 2010 ... along with Zach Horstman, Taévaunn Prince also made his collegiate debut on Saturday, scoring one point with four rebounds and an assist in his first game as a Jackrabbit