Bittle Leads Jacks to Season-Opening Win

Friday, November 13

Brookings, S.D.

8:30 PM

South Dakota State University

1-0

Chadron State

0-1

Chadron State

South Dakota State

11/14/2015 12:42:00 AM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

South Dakota State senior Jake Bittle went 9 for 11 from the field overall and 4 for 6 from 3-point range for a career-high 23 points in leading the Jackrabbits to a dominating 87-52 win over Chadron State on Friday at Frost Arena.

SDSU's 18th consecutive home win gives them a 1-0 mark on the season, while the Eagles open the season with a loss.

"We were really disappointed in the first half by our rebounding," head coach Scott Nagy said. "In the second half we did a better rebounding, but we weren't as good defensively, they loosened up a little bit, but 14 turnovers is way too many turnovers."

Tied at 2-2 early, the Jacks scored the next seven points to take an early 9-2 lead, but quickly saw the lead grow, as Chadron State started the game 1 for 12 from the floor overall.

The Jackrabbits, meanwhile, tacked on a 14-0 run later in the half, part of a 21-4 run that ended with the Jacks leading 23-6 with 9 minutes, 29 seconds left in the frame. Part of the run also included SDSU making 10 consecutive field goal attempts, capped by a trio of Bittle triples with 4:52 on the first half clock and the Jacks leading 34-13.

SDSU led 43-21 at halftime, then started the second half on an 11-0 run to push the lead to 33 points and got it to 37 points later in the half.

Along with Bittle and his career-high 23, the Jacks got 15 points off the bench from Mike Daum in his collegiate debut. Ian Theisen and Keaton Moffitt both pitched-in with 10 points in the win, with Moffitt and Lane Severyn tying for game-high honors with 8 rebounds. Freshman Tevin King scored nine points in his collegiate debut.

The only Eagle to score in double figures, Sharif Black led Chadron State with 12 points in the loss.

The Jacks look to make it 19 straight at home on Monday, when they host Weber State inside Frost Arena at 7 p.m. The Wildcats dropped their season-opener at home to Utah State on Friday by a 73-70 score.

NOTES: The Jackrabbits and Eagles played in front of 2,043 fans at Frost Arena ... SDSU improves to 72-38 all-time in season-opening games, to 13-8 in season-openers under Nagy and to 5-7 in the Division I era … SDSU opened a season at home for the first time since Nov. 12, 2011, when it beat Western Michigan 82-76 ... Friday's win gives Nagy 385 career wins, 15 shy of cracking the 400-wins mark ... Deondre Parks did not play due to injury, marking the first DNP in his college career, snapping a streak of 101 consecutive starts (66 at Iowa Lakes CC and 35 last year at SDSU) … Moffitt started his sixth game at SDSU … King and Daum made their collegiate debuts in the game ... Bittle topped his previous career-high of 21 points, set on Jan. 28, 2015 at home against Omaha ... Theisen's first-career points came with a 3-point shot on Nov. 14, 2014, and his first points of this season came on a 3-point field goal