South Dakota State men, women rout North Dakota Fighting Hawks
The South Dakota State men's basketball team improved to 9-0 in Summit League play, 10-0 at home this year and 29-1 at home all-time under coach Eric Henderson with a stress-free win over North Dakota on Thursday night at Frost Arena, dropping the Fighting Hawks 96-61.
It was SDSU’s third straight game with 90-plus points, their 10th time reaching the 90-mark this year, and it was UND’s 19th consecutive loss at Frost Arena. UND fell to 0-8 in Summit League play with their ninth straight loss overall.
As the score would indicate, the Jacks dominated on both ends of the floor. They made 12-of-23 from 3-point range while outscoring the Hawks 48-26 in the paint and shooting 58 percent overall from the floor. Meanwhile they held UND (4-17 overall) to 36 percent shooting and an 8-of-29 effort from the arc.
More: South Dakota State basketball surging on offense as men prepare to host North Dakota, NDSU
Doug Wilson led the Jacks with 23 points and six rebounds, while Baylor Scheierman had 13 points, six boards and five assists. Luke Appel had 13 points and five boards and Matt Mims and Zeke Mayo had 11 points each.
"It was our normal gameplan, playing inside out," Wilson said. "Tonight the coaches and my teammates just really harped on me being aggressive in the paint. It feels pretty good with all the trust they have in not just me but the other bigs when they come in."
The Jacks (18-4, 9-0) dominated from start to finish, taking a 20-6 lead just minutes into the game and cruising from there. They led 41-21 at the half and UND never made any sort of threat to make SDSU nervous. Ethan Igbanugo had 24 points to lead the Hawks, while SDSU held UND scoring leader and former Dakota Valley standout Paul Bruns to seven points on 2-of-9 shooting.
While the Jacks remained just absurdly hot on offense, coach Eric Henderson was especially happy with the defensive effort.
“I know we talk about it a lot, and I don’t always see the progress that I’d like,” Henderson said of the defense. “But we spend a lot of time on it and I was really proud of our guys. I thought they really understood what we were trying to accomplish. I thought our routes were really good on certain guys, so just understanding personnel, understanding what we want to give up and what we want to take away, and our guys have really done that a lot better of late. We just want to do it for longer stretches.”
SDSU is next in action Saturday when they host North Dakota State. The Bison improved to 6-3 in Summit League play on Thursday with an overtime win over South Dakota, snapping the Coyotes' five-game winning streak.
Women cool off streaking Hawks
The North Dakota women entered Thursday night’s game against South Dakota State as one of the hottest teams in the Summit League – winners of six in a row, having moved into third place in the conference and hopeful of proving to themselves and the rest of the league that they’re ready to compete with the heavyweights from South Dakota.
Turns out the Fighting Hawks aren’t quite there yet.
SDSU scored the first nine points of the game, went up by 18 by the end of the first quarter and never looked back, trouncing UND 75-49 in Grand Forks.
More: South Dakota State basketball's Myah Selland continues to win her battle with constant injuries
The Jacks (13-8, 9-1) outshot the Hawks 44 percent to 31 percent, and with a whopping 52-32 rebounding edge thrown on top of that, UND didn’t stand much chance.
Paiton Burckhard had 21 points and nine rebounds to lead the Jacks, while Myah Selland added 17 points and Tori Nelson 13 points and eight rebounds.
“I thought defensively for really the entire game we were very good,” said coach Aaron Johnston. “And I thought offensively we played great, too. The second quarter was a little rushed, but that third and fourth quarter we were really solid and that started with our defense.”
The Jacks remain on the road Saturday when they face North Dakota State.
This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: South Dakota State basketball teams rout North Dakota Fighting Hawks
