All 14 Jackrabbits on the roster played, 10 of them scored and five of them scored in double figures, as South Dakota State closed its three game homestand with an 82-53 win over Fort Wayne on Wednesday.
The Jacks fifth straight win gives them a 14-7 overall record and a 5-2 mark in The Summit League, while the preseason Summit League favorite Mastodons fall to 8-11 overall and to 1-5 in league play.
“I told the players after the game that I’m proud of them, just for how they prepared for this basketball game,” head coach Scott Nagy said. “I was a little uptight, even my coaches were asking me if I was alright today, but I was a little uptight about the game just because I’ve been around long enough, particularly coming off the USD game, just emotionally how you can be flat, and I thought that our players did a great job of moving ahead, forgetting what was behind us and focusing on the next team. They did a good job of focusing on getting a good start.”
SDSU opened with a 7-0 run and made its first four shots from the field, then added a 25-2 run, which included 19 straight for the Jacks, later in the half to open a 42-14 lead with just under three minutes left in the first half.
The Jacks, who led 42-18 at halftime, held the Mastodons to just two free throws over the 25-2 run, which included an 0 for 12 effort from the field and covered a 10 minute, 31 second span in the half.
IPFW turnovers also aided the dominant first half, as the Jacks turned nine first half Mastodon turnovers into 15 points. For the game, SDSU turned a season-high 24 IPFW turnovers into 25 points.
The visitors would close the gap to 22 points at 68-46 with just over four minutes left, but the Jacks answered with an 11-0 run to push the lead to a game-high 33 points at 79-46 and secure the win.
Cody Larson, Jake Bittle and Deondre Parks led the Jacks with 12 points in the win, with George Marshall adding 11 and Ian Theisen a career-high 10 points in the win. Reed Tellinghuisen finished with 10 points and a career-high four steals. Lane Severyn also set a career-high with three steals, as SDSU as a team finished with a season-high 14 steals.
Steve Forbes and Mo Evans both finished with nine points to lead the Mastodons in the loss. Forbes also added a game-high seven rebounds.
The Jackrabbits look to push their winning streak to six, when they return to the road for a game at Oral Roberts on Saturday at 7 p.m.
