Balanced Jacks down Bison, 68-58

Saturday, February 14

Frost Arena

4:00 PM

South Dakota State University

North Dakota State

2/14/2015 9:04:00 PM | Men's Basketball

By: SDSU Sports Info

All five South Dakota State starters scored in double figures and the Jackrabbits finished plus 14 on the glass in a 68-58 win over North Dakota State on Saturday in front of 4,912 fans at Frost Arena on Nate Wolters Day.

The Jacks 16th straight home win boosts their record to 19-8 on the season and gives them a share of the lead in The Summit League standings with a 10-3 mark. NDSU falls to 18-8 overall and into a tie with SDSU with the same 10-3 record in league play.

“They're just a very tough team, but I thought our guys were tough today, too. I thought even when things didn't look good in the second half, our kids didn't get discouraged,” head coach Scott Nagy said. “It was about as physical as we played all year, it's the best we've rebounded all year, I think, which to me was the most important thing.”

SDSU finished with a 41-27 advantage in rebounds, its largest margin of the season, and turned 14 offensive rebounds into 12 second chance points, compared to four second chance points for the Bison off seven offensive rebounds.

The Bison opened the scoring with a Lawrence Alexander 3-pointer on their first possession of the game, but the Jacks scored the next six points, both George Marshall 3-pointers, to take the lead.

SDSU led by as many as six points twice in the first half, but NDSU kept it close, forcing four tie scores, the last being at 21-all before the Jacks took a 29-24 lead into halftime, with Marshall scoring 14 of those points.

NDSU scored the first five points of the second half to force the first of three second half ties at 31-31, and then took its first lead since the opening minutes at 40-38 with 13 minutes, 50 seconds left in the game, the first of six second half lead changes over the next seven minutes.

Down 50-47 with 7:53 on the clock, Deondre Parks scored his first points of the game, a 3-pointer, and-1, a four point play that put the Jacks in the lead for good at 51-50. He added another triple after a defensive stop in the next possession that gave SDSU a 54-50 lead with just over five and a half minutes to play.

NDSU would cut the lead to 54-53, but the Jacks quickly pushed the lead to eight points with an 8-1 spurt, and then got the stops down the stretch to secure the win.

“George carried us for quite a while,” Nagy added, “But I think Deondre and Jake carried us home, they made some big plays for us.”

Marshall led the five Jackrabbit starters in double figures with 19 points, adding a team-high three assists. Parks and Jake Bittle both finished with 12 points, with Cody Larson adding 11 points and a game-high 12 rebounds for the game's only double-double. Reed Tellinghuisen scored 10 points in the win.

Alexander finished with a game-high 24 points and added nine rebounds. A.J. Jacobson scored 14 and Carlin Dupree 10 points in the loss.

The Jackrabbits return to action on Wednesday against Western Illinois at 7 p.m., in search of their 20th win of the season.

NOTES: NDSU leads the all-time series 112-99 … SDSU won its 16th straight game at Frost Arena ... SDSU improves to 16-1 this season when leading at the half, to 12-0 at home to 11-3 when winning the rebounding battle and to 10-1 when holding its opponents to fewer than 60 points ... five Jackrabbits scored in double figures for the second time this season, the first being on Jan. 21, vs. Fort Wayne ... SDSU held an opponent to fewer than 10 free throws for the first time since Feb. 27, 2014 vs. Denver ... Larson recorded his sixth double-double of the season and the 12th in his career ... Larson's one block gives him 68 for his career, one shy of tying Mark Tetzlaff (1981-85) for ninth all-time at SDSU with 69