Jackrabbits win BracketBusters game

Saturday, February 18

Frost Arena

12:00 PM

South Dakota State University

Buffalo

2/18/2012 3:51:00 PM | Men's Basketball

By: SDSU Sports Info

BROOKINGS, S.D. - South Dakota State made the most of its first nationally televised game at Frost Arena, defeating Buffalo, 86-65, before a crowd of 5,378 in a Sears BracketBusters game Saturday afternoon.

The Jackrabbits improved to 22-7 overall, while Buffalo dropped to 16-8 on the season.

The Jackrabbits led wire to wire in improving to 12-0 on their home floor. The game was tied four times in the opening minutes, the last at 11-all, before Jordan Dykstra gave SDSU the lead for good with a three-pointer.

Buffalo was held without a field goal for more than an eight-minute span later in the half, during which the Jackrabbits went on a 10-0 run to open a 31-18 lead. Taevaunn Prince's tip-in just before the first-half buzzer gave SDSU a 38-26 lead at intermission.

"We were really good defensively early and it's typical of our basketball team that the second half we're generally not as good defensively because we're not in front of our bench," head coach Scott Nagy said. "We got in some foul trouble, but the kids off the bench were really good; Taévaunn Prince, Chad White and Marcus were really good, and Griffan Callahan was tremendous. The defensive effort is what won it for us."

The Bulls trimmed the deficit to single digits, 48-40 with 13:22 to play, on back-to-back three-pointers by Zach Filzen. However, the Jackrabbits answered with three-pointers on consecutive trips down the floor by Callahan and Nate Wolters.

Wolters led the Jackrabbits with 22 points, eight assists and six rebounds, while Callahan scored 16 of his 21 points in the second half. Tony Fiegen rounded out SDSU's double-digit scorers with 11 points.

SDSU shot 61 percent (14-of-23) in the second half and finished 27-of-55, 49.1 percent, for the game. The Jackrabbits were 7-of-17 on three-point attempts and held a big advantage at the free throw line, going 25-of-31, 80.6 percent.

Buffalo ended the game 26-of-58 from the field, 44.8 percent, including 6-of-20 from beyond the arc. At the line, the Bulls made 7-of-11 attempts, 63.6 percent.

The Bulls were led by Mitchell Watt, who scored 13 of his team-high 15 points in the second half and corralled a game-high eight rebounds. Filzen finished with 13 points and Tony Watson added 11 off the bench.

The Jackrabbits held a 35-31 rebounding edge.

SDSU returns to Summit League play Thursday by hosting Western Illinois. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. at Frost Arena.

NOTES: Saturday's game marked the first-ever meeting between South Dakota State and Buffalo in men's basketball ... the Jackrabbits improved to 2-0 against Mid-American Conference opponents this season, after defeating Western Michigan in the season opener ... in reaching the 20-point mark for the 11th time this season, Wolters moved into fifth place in career scoring with 1,517 points, passing Clint Sargent (1,505 points from 2008-11) ... with three three-pointers, Callahan moved into fifth place on the SDSU career three-point chart with 156, passing Brian Norberg (155 from 1995-99) ... the game was televised live on ESPNU