The South Dakota State men shot over 65 percent in the first half and an even 50 percent in the second half in beating Houston Baptist 92-68 on Tuesday in the first game of the Cancun Challenge.

 

The Jackrabbits improve to 5-0 with the win, while the Huskies fall to 1-4.

 

“Offensively we were really good and I guess I can’t complain about the defense, we held them to 36 percent. We were sharp today,” head coach Scott Nagy said. “Offensively, if we shoot the ball like that from three we are going to be hard to beat. If you go down the line, there aren’t very many teams that will have six guys make three’s in a game.”

 

SDSU scored the first four points and led by 13 points just 10 minutes into the contest. The Huskies cut that lead to 39-30 with just over three minutes left in the first half, but the Jackrabbits closed the half on an 11-3 run to take a 50-33 lead into the locker room at halftime.

 

The Jacks then scored the first nine points of the second half to push the lead to 24 points at 57-33, and led by as many as 34 points before sitting the starters, which allowed HBU to chip away at the lead, but nearly enough to warrant any concern on the Jackrabbits part.

 

George Marshall led four Jackrabbits in double figures with 19 points; Deondre Parks added 17, Mike Daum 13 and Reed Tellinghuisen 11 points for SDSU, which shot 57 percent from the floor in the win, 33 of 58, and held the Huskies to 36.7 percent shooting, 22 of 60.

 

Jordan Stickler led the Huskies with 13 points, with Terry Harris adding 12 and Reveal Chukwujekwu 11 points in the loss.

 

The Jackrabbits can tie their best Division I start on Wednesday at 6-0 with a win over Cleveland State in the Cancun Challenge Mayan Division Championship. The Jacks and Vikings tip at 3 p.m. ET, 2 p.m. CT.