No. 14 Minnesota Tops Short-Handed Jacks

by Nick Lenz, Sports Anchor/Reporter
December 04, 2012 11:46 PM


MINNEAPOLIS, MN -- Playing without the services of Nate Wolters and Taévaunn Prince due to injury, South Dakota State hung with No. 14 ranked Minnesota for the first part of the Tuesday’s game at Williams Arena, but the Golden Gophers broke an early 10-all tie with a 10-0 run and never looked back in an 88-64 win.

“I didn’t care about the score, I just wanted to see us compete like I want us to compete,” head coach Scott Nagy said. “I think that the talk was that they believed they could play well, they believed that they could win, but they didn’t play like it, and that was my frustration.”

The loss snaps a five-game SDSU winning streak, as the Jacks fall to 6-3 on the season, while the Gophers fifth straight win boosts their record to 9-1.

The Gophers added a second 10-0 run in the first half and took a 48-24 lead into the locker room after shooting 64.3 percent in the first half on 18-of-28 shooting, including a 7-for-13 effort from 3-point range. SDSU shot 33.3 percent in the half on 9-for-27 shooting, going 6-for-13 from long range.

Minnesota, which led by as many as 31 points in the second half, shot and even 50 percent in the second half on 15-of-30 shooting and made three of its nine three point attempts. The Jackrabbits improved to shoot 43.3 percent in the second half, making 13 of their 30 shots and posting a 5-for-14 mark from 3-point range (35.7 percent).

Jordan Dykstra led the way with 17 points, adding a team-high six rebounds for the Jacks, who lost the battle of the boards 38-26. Tony Fiegen and Chad White both added 10 points in the loss. Jake Bittle made his first-career start, scoring five points with seven assists in 28 minutes.

Andre Hollins led all players with 22 points, and went 6-for-7 from 3-point range. Austin Hollins added 17 and Joe Coleman 15 points, as 11 different Minnesota players scored at least one field goal.

The Jackrabbits look to get back on the winning track, and push their home winning streak to 22 games, on Thursday, when they host Dakota State at Frost Arena at 7 p.m.