Jackrabbits Cage Redbirds in Normal

Thursday, November 19

Normal, Ill.

7 p.m.

South Dakota State University

3-0

Illinois State

1-2

South Dakota State

Illinois State

Jacks down Jags in Nagy?s 600th Career Game

11/19/2015 10:47:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: SDSU Sports Info

NORMAL, Ill. – All five South Dakota State starters scored in double figures, Reed Tellinghuisen tallied his first-career double-double, and minus a short-lived 3-2 Redbirds lead, SDSU led for the entirety of an 83-67 win at Redbird Arena in Normal, Ill.

The Jackrabbits improve to 3-0 with the win, while the host Redbirds fall to 1-2.

"I'm proud of our guys. We knew we were playing a very good basketball team and I knew they would be ready for us, and I think that they were," head coach Scott Nagy said. "I think we caught a couple of them on an off night, we've had those things happen, too, we were fortunate there, but there were some things that we didn't do great. We didn't take care of the ball and we fouled a lot, and those two things bothered me, but our experienced guards help us a lot, they really do."

SDSU started the game with six baskets from six different players, and made five of its first six shots from the floor to open up a 12-6 lead just over five minutes into the game. Later in the half, the Jacks made five consecutive baskets, including a trio of triples, capped by a Jake Bittle layup with 1 minute, 33 seconds left in the first half that gave SDSU its largest lead at 19 points, 51-32, which would end up being the halftime score.

Back-to-back 3-pointers from Deondre Parks extended the Jackrabbits largest lead of the game to 62-37 with 15:34 on the clock, a lead that would grow to 17 by the 13:22 mark of the second half on a Parks jumper.

The Jackrabbits lead grew to as many as 27 points with just under 12 minutes to play, and even though Illinois State would cut into that lead down the stretch, it could only get it down to 16 points, and that didn't happen until the final five minutes of the contest.

George Marshall battled foul trouble, but still scored a game-high 18 points. Parks finished with 15 points, Tellinghuisen 14, Bittle 11 and Theisen 10, which ties a career-high. Tellinghuisen also added a career-high 10 rebounds for the game's only double-double, the first of his career.

Mike Daum failed to reach double figure points for the first time this season, but did finished with a game-high 11 rebounds, as the Jacks finished with a 48-36 edge on the glass.

DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell led a trio of Redbirds in double figures with 15 points, with Lee Paris adding 14 and MiKyle McIntosh12 points in the loss

SDSU looks to make it 4-0 on Saturday, when its five-game road trip continues at TCU. The Jackrabbits and Horned Frogs tip at 1 p.m. in Fort Worth, Texas.

NOTES: Thursday's game marked the first meeting between the Jackrabbits and Redbirds, and the first of two stateside games in the Cancun Challenge … the teams played in front of an announced crowd of 4,107 fans at Doug Collins Court at Redbird Arena … SDSU last opened the season with three straight wins in 2010-11, when the Jacks won their first six games … SDSU finished with five players in double figures for the second straight game … SDSU scored at least 50 points in a half for the first time since scoring exactly 50 vs. Western Illinois on March 7, 2015 in the first round of The Summit League Tournament … SDSU finished with 11 steals, the first time with more than 10 in a game since posting 14 at home against Fort Wayne on Jan. 21, 2015 … Keaton Moffitt dished out a game- and career-high seven assists, which tops his previous career-high of six, set at Western Illinois on Feb. 18, 2015 … Daum reached double figure rebounds for the first time in his career, as did Tellinghuisen