VERMILLION The South Dakota State men led wire to wire on Saturday afternoon as the Jackrabbits beat in-state rival South Dakota 73-55 at the Sanford Coyote Sports Center.
SDSU led by double digits early in the second half and the Coyotes cut the lead to three with just under 11 minutes to play. The Jacks then outscored USD by 15 the rest of the way and improved to 11-9 overall and 4-1 in the Summit League.
SDSU head coach Eric Henderson said his team had a mature approach heading into the rivalry game on Saturday.
Im super proud of our guys. Our guys have really done a great job of staying together and they approached this so maturely. Maybe as mature as they have all year. They were very focused, they were intentional and they knew we needed to get stops to be able to win, Henderson said.
The Jacks got off to a strong start as they led 12-2 just four and a half minutes into the game. SDSU would later lead 23-13 and took a 37-26 lead into the locker room.
SDSU extended the lead to 41-28 with 17:28 to play in the game but the Coyotes (9-11, 2-3) cut the lead to 50-47 with 10:43 left. The Jacks then responded with a 17-3 run over the next 7:15 and led 67-50 with three and a half minutes left. That allowed them to cruise to their fourth victory in conference play.
Henderson said he was proud of the way his team responded after the SDSU lead dwindled to three.
I told our guys in the locker room, the way they handled that situation is probably what sticks out the most. In a rivalry game, in a situation like this, you know the other team is going to make a run, and they did. They made some shots. Our guys’ response was beautiful. We slowed ourselves down on the offensive end and got good shots. Then in the last 10 minutes we were dynamite defensively, Henderson said.
SDSU didnt shoot the ball as well as it has as of late on Saturday as the Jacks shot 47.8% from the field and were 6-of-21 from three. They won the game with defense as they held USD to 34.5% shooting from the field and 11-of-32 from beyond the arc.
The Jacks had struggled on the defensive end heading into this week and Henderson said the defensive effort was a lot better on Saturday then it had been in previous games.
I thought defensively we were dynamite. Weve talked about defense a lot the last two weeks, so to see the improvement is awesome. What we needed to understand is that we can win in multiple ways. We dont need to outscore everybody. Thats a little bit uncontrollable. Theres some control in that, but we want to be able to win in multiple ways and we showed that today, Hendersons said.
SDSU was led by Zeke Mayo who had 20 points, six rebounds and five assists. Coming off a strong performance in a win over Omaha on Thursday, Charlie Easley put together another good game on Saturday as he was 9-of-12 from the field and had 19 points, four rebounds and three steals.
Henderson said he thought Thursdays game may have jump started a strong stretch for the senior from Lincoln, Nebraska.
Thats Charlie to a tee. I think how he finished that game, he struggled a bit shooting on Thursday, but how he finished that game, hopefully thats what he remembered. He hit all of the free throws and saw that ball going in and I think it sparked him, Henderson said.
SDSU had two other players score in double figures. William Kyle III had 11 points and eight rebounds. Luke Appel had 12 points and five rebounds.
One of the biggest differences in the game was points in the paint. SDSU dominated down low as the Jacks outscored the Coyotes 46-12 in the paint. The Jacks also handled the rebound battle as they held a 41-31 advantage on the glass.
USD was led by Jevon Hill who had 15 points. Kaleb Stewart had 10 points.
SDSU is now in the thick of conference play as the Jacks will host Kansas City on Thursday at 6 p.m. and then will travel to Oral Roberts on Jan. 27 to take on the Golden Eagles at 7 p.m.
Henderson said he loves this time of the year because you know your opponents and every night is a battle.
This is why conference play is so enjoyable. Youre going to have a challenge every night and its going to be a war. The team that youre going to be playing knows you very well. So the beat goes on. Were going to have our hands full next week, Henderson said.
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