Balanced Jacks down UCSB at Frost Arena

Sunday, December 13

Brookings, S.D.

2 p.m.

South Dakota State University

9-1

UC Santa Barbara

2-5

UC Santa Barbara

South Dakota State

12/13/2015 6:46:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: SDSU Sports Info

South Dakota State got another balanced offensive attack in turning a back-and-forth game into another blowout at Frost Arena on Sunday, as the Jackrabbits downed UC Santa Barbara 86-68 in front of 2,155 fans for their 21st consecutive home win.

The Jackrabbits improve to 9-1, while the visiting Gauchos fall to 2-5.

"The first half was a really odd half for us because we were so bad defensively and just got physically outmatched. Our good offense kind of masked how bad we were defensively," head coach Scott Nagy said. "The second half we were pretty good defensively, which helped us gain the lead."

Both teams started the game 3 for 3 from the floor, UCSB with a trio of 2-point baskets, SDSU with a trio of 3-pointers, which set the stage for an offensive first half that saw the Jacks shoot 66.7 percent, 16 of 24, and the Gauchos 57.1 percent, 16 of 28. The difference in the half came from deep, as the Jacks finished the frame 7 of 12 from 3-point range and UCSB 1 of 5.

After 11 first half lead changes and three ties, SDSU took the lead for good on a pair of Mike Daum free throws with 6 minutes, 40 seconds left in the opening stanza, and then added an 8-0 run later in the frame, highlighted by a pair of Deondre Parks 3-pointers, to take a 51-42 lead into halftime.

The Gauchos cut that lead down to six points early the second half, but the Jacks quickly got the lead back to double digits and continued to build on it, reaching a high of 23 points at the 3:42 mark of the second half.

The defensive adjustments at halftime by SDSU worked in holding the Gauchos to 32.1 percent shooting in the second half, 9 of 28, while the Jacks continued to shoot at a solid pace of 50 percent, 12 of 24.

Parks led all players in the game with 23 points, with Daum adding 15, Jake Bittle 14 and Keaton Moffitt a career-high 11 points in his second straight start. Moffitt also led the Jackrabbits with eight rebounds and with six assists.

Michael Bryson led a pair of Gauchos in double figures with 21 points, while John Green added 15 in the loss.

Winners of three-in-a-row, the Jackrabbits took to make it four on Wednesday, when they travel to Lubbock, Texas to take on the Texas Tech Red Raiders at 7 p.m.

NOTES: SDSU leads the all-time series 2-1 ... the teams played in front of season-high home crowd of 2,155 fans at Frost Arena ... SDSU scored at least 50 points in a half for the third time this season (51 at Illinois State, 50 vs. Houston Baptist) ... SDSU led by at least 20 points at some point in all nine wins this season and led at the half in all 10 games ... SDSU led for at least 33 minutes in all nine wins this season ... SDSU has led for 352 minutes, 57 seconds of 400 minutes of game action this season ... the 11 lead changes is two fewer than in the first nine games combined ... SDSU made more 3-pointers than its opponent in all 10 games ... four Jackrabbits scored in double figures for the eighth time in 10 games this season ... Parks posted back-to-back 20-point games for the first time at SDSU … Daum scored in double figures in seven games this season, all off the bench, and averages exactly 12 points in 16.6 minutes per game