South Dakota State women win home opener, men give Arizona a close call

Matt Zimmer
Argus Leader
South Dakota State basketball tile

BROOKINGS – For each of the last two seasons, the third quarter has been the best quarter for South Dakota State. The Jackrabbits outscored their opponents 703-525 in the third last year, the biggest point spread they had in any period, on their way to 28 wins and a berth in the Sweet 16.

Thursday night in the home opener, the Jacks showed that’s a trait that can apparently carry over into the 2019-20 campaign. Leading by five after a sluggish first half, SDSU outscored Montana State 24-7 in the third stanza, giving them more than enough breathing room to survive an ugly fourth quarter and secure a 60-50 win over the Bobcats in front of 1,596 Frost Arena fans.

The Jacks have been slow to get on track on offense in the early stages of the season (that’ll happen when you graduate the all-time leading scorer and all-time leading 3-point shooter in school history in the same season), but staunch defense has made up for it, and that was the foundation of Thursday’s win over a solid Big Sky opponent. The Jacks held the Bobcats to 7-of-26 shooting in the first half, then clamped down even harder in the third, limiting the visitors to just 2-of-13 from the floor, while they went 9-for-16 to turn a close game into a blowout. SDSU led by as much as 24 early in the fourth.

“It’s never tone, it’s just thinking about how are they defending us and what do we have to do different,” coach Aaron Johnston said when asked about halftime adjustments and speeches. “That part I liked a lot. In some ways we’re a mature team and in others we’re a younger team – people in different spots and different roles – so it’s great to see us look a little more like a mature team in the third quarter. Seeing how a team is defending us, how do we need to attack it, and then executing it.”

Paiton Burckhard led the Jacks with 15 points, doing most of her damage at the line (9-for-11), while Tagyn Larson had 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting from the floor. They were the only Rabbits in double figures, though freshman Tori Nelson had nine points on a perfect 3-for-3 night and Tylee Irwin had eight points and six rebounds. SDSU was 7-for-27 from 3-point land and 13-of-25 at the line while committing 20 turnovers. Those are uglier offensive stats than Jacks fans are used to seeing, and while Johnston acknowledges that, he’s clearly not concerned about it yet. His players seem to feel the same way.

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“That’ll come,” Irwin said. “People are still trying to get a feel for everything. It’s not something we’re worried about at the moment. I think we’re just focused on being intense and keeping that intensity up in practice.”

Montana State (3-1) finished the game shooting 29 percent, and that was after they finally hit some shots in the fourth quarter with the game decided. Fallyn Freije led the Bobcats with 11 points and Oliana Squires had 10, but those two were a combined 7-for-27 from the floor. MSU was 3-for-16 from outside the arc, and only 13-for-40 inside it.

“Defensively we did really well and that’s been kind of the main driver we’ve seen these last couple games,” said Larson, whose team hosts Wyoming on Saturday, a team that beat them last year in Wyoming. “(MSU) has some good post players so we made sure to defend the inside and get out on shooters.”

Men fall to Arizona

The Jackrabbit men put a scare into 14th-ranked Arizona Thursday night in Tucson, leading for most of the first half and staying within striking distance for most of the second in an eventual 71-64 loss to the Wildcats.

SDSU (4-3) was playing a major conference foe for the third time in the young season, having been competitive in a loss to Southern Cal and been blown out last weekend by Nebraska. Arizona was their toughest foe yet, and the Jacks brought their best showing among the three challenges.

Doug Wilson played like he belonged on a Pac-12 floor, while the SDSU defense clamped down on Arizona shooters throughout the first half to allow them to stay close. The Jacks led by as much as 10 points in the first half and were up 32-29 at the break. SDSU never trailed by more than 11.

Wilson led the Jacks with 15 points, going 5-of-7 from the floor and from the line. Brandon Key had 13 points and six assists while Matt Dentlinger added 11 points. Nico Mannion had 14 points to lead the Wildcats, who were just 3-of-17 from 3-point range in the win, but outscored SDSU 22-13 at the line and forced 21 turnovers.