RENO, Nev. The South Dakota State men were outscored by 21 points in the second half on Wednesday night, leading to a 77-63 loss to Nevada.
The Jackrabbits were up 37-30 at halftime and the Wolf Pack put 47 points to SDSUs 26 in the second half. Nevada shot 70% from the field in the second half and SDSU head coach Eric Henderson said he thought his team made it too easy on the Wolf Pack both inside and beyond the arc.
I thought we responded well in the first half, Henderson said. I thought our kids took some big punches from them and I loved our resiliency, but we werent able to sustain that throughout the whole game. I thought we were late to our double [team] in the second half. They scored 18 points in the second half in the paint and then they made 13 threes. If theyre going to do that, they cant have it both ways. If they do that, were going to be in trouble.
The two teams traded baskets in the first 11 and a half minutes of the game as Nevada led 25-21. Back-to-back threes from Joe Sayler and Kalen Garry gave SDSU the lead and then six-straight points from the Jacks to end the half put them up seven at halftime.
Nevada opened the second half with a 15-5 run to go up 45-42. Sayler then hit a three to tie the game but the Wolf Pack scored 12 of the next 13 points and led 57-46 with 9:15 to play. SDSU cut the lead to 60-52 but Nevada responded with a 10-4 run and that put the game away.
The Jacks shot 43.6% from the field and were 12-of-35 from three. Sayler led SDSU with 15 points. Owen Larson had 11 points and eight rebounds. Matthew Mors had nine points. SDSUs leading scorer and rebounder, Oscar Cluff, was held to six points and four rebounds.
Four of Cluffs six points came in the first half and he took just three shots on the night but made all of them. Henderson said he thought Cluff could have been more aggressive in the second half but thought the ankle injury that hes been battling for the past week played into his aggressiveness.
I wish he was feeling a little better. Hes going to be fine, but hes still nursing that ankle a little bit and the physicality of this game really took its toll on him. They werent going to double him in the second half and he just got a little passive. It wasnt his fault. I just thought it was more that he needed a clear mind and we needed to punch it down inside and we played too much out on the perimeter, Henderson said.
Nevada shot 55.6% from the field and was 13-of-33 from three. The Wolf Pack were led by Nick Davidson who had 16 points, six rebounds and six assists. Tyler Rolison had 14 points and Tre Coleman had 13 points.
SDSU had 11 turnovers for the game and nine of them came in the second half. The Wolf Pack scored 15 points off of those turnovers.
The Jacks had 30 rebounds and the Wolf Pack had 28. SDSU was 3-of-5 at the free throw line and Nevada was 4-of-5.
SDSU will continue its road trip on Friday when the Jacks play at Colorado. Tip off against the Buffaloes is scheduled for 8 p.m. Central time.
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