South Dakota State trailed by as many as 10 points early in Saturday’s Showdown with South Dakota, but used a 30-2 run later in the half to secure an 85-68 win.

The game was played in front of a season-high crowd of 5,035 fans at Frost Arena in the South Dakota Corn Showdown Series.

 

The Jackrabbits 27th straight home win gives them a 20-6 record overall, the program’s 23rd 20-win season and the 12th under head coach Scott Nagy. SDSU also improves to 9-3 in Summit League play, while the Coyotes fall to 12-15 overall and to 4-9 in league play.

 

“The start was obviously not what we were looking for, but it was better than last year, which is unbelievable that this start would be better than any other start. It felt like the Omaha game (on Wednesday) that we were just going to trade baskets and see if we could outscore them, and they got to 22 and we got the timeout and our kids finally decided that they were going to guard,” Nagy said after the game. “We had a 30-2 run, but it’s all from defense, it just is, it’s all from defense. Defense is the most important thing!”

 

The visitors opened on an 11-2 run before Mike Daum scored SDSU’s first field goal just four minutes into the game, but the Coyotes came right back and built the lead to 16-6 five minutes into the game.

 

Down 22-14 with 12 minutes, 9 seconds on the first half clock, SDSU erupted for a 19-0 run that ended with the Jacks leading 33-22 with 6:14 left in the half, but it didn’t end there, as SDSU answered a Coyote hoop with another 11 straight points to complete the 30-2 run with under two minutes left in the first half.

 

Up 44-28 at halftime, SDSU built its lead to as many as 26 points on a Keaton Moffitt layup with just over five minutes left in the game before clearing the bench, and South Dakota closed the game on a 9-0 run to reach the final score.

 

Daum scored a career-high 24 points to lead all players, and tied for game-high honors with six rebounds. George Marshall finished with 22 points, Deondre Parks 14 and Moffitt 11 points in the win.

 

Trey Norris led four Coyotes in double figures with 19 points. Casey Kasperbauer added 12 points, Eric Robertson 11 and Tyler Hagedorn 10 points in the loss.

 

SDSU looks to start a new winning streak on Thursday, when they travel to Fort Wayne, Ind., to take on the Mastodons in a battle for first place in The Summit League standings. The game tips from Gates Sports Center at 6 p.m. CT.