Jacks win, Wolters nears scoring mark

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – South Dakota State got 23 points from Nate Wolters, 21 from Jordan Dykstra and ended the first half on an 18-0 run in an 77-61 win at Kansas City on Thursday night in Summit League action.

“What I saw in the first half is what I thought I would be seeing most of this year, that’s what I wanted to see us do;  get stops, run, shoot the ball freely” head coach Scott Nagy said. “It was just a lot of fun to watch quite frankly, but the reason we were good is because we were good defensively.”

The Jackrabbits, playing their fifth of six in a row on the road, improve to 11-5 overall and to 2-1 in The Summit League, while the Kangaroos’ seventh straight loss drops them to 4-11 overall and to 1-3 in the league.

The Jackrabbits scored the first five points of the second half to push the run to 23-0 more than enough to overcome the Kangaroos 55.6 percent shooting percentage in the second half, 15-of-27.

SDSU shot 50.9 percent for the game, 29-of-57, making a season-high 12 3-point shots in the process on 27 attempts, 44.4 percent.

Seven different Jackrabbits scored, led by Wolters and his 23 points. He also added six rebounds and a game-high seven assists. Dykstra went 5-for-9 from long range and 7-of-13 overall to get his 21 points. Chad White added 14 points in the win.

Thomas Staton led a trio of Kangaraoos in double figures with 14 points. Nelson Kirksey added 12 and Estan Tyler 10 points in the loss.

The Jackrabbits look to make it two in a row on Saturday, when they travel to Vermillion to take on South Dakota in the South Dakota Showdown Series presented by South Dakota Corn. The Jackrabbits and Coyotes tipoff at 4:05 p.m.

NOTES: The Jackrabbits improve to 9-5 all-time against Kansas City, with wins in seven of the last eight meetings and four in a row … Wolters scored in double figures for 14th time this season and for the 95th consecutive game… Wolters scored at least 20 points for the eighth time this season and for the 49th time in his career …. Wolters’ 23 points gives him 1,917 for his career, making him the second player in school history to cross the 1,900-point mark and leaving him 15 points shy of breaking the all-time SDSU scoring record of 1,931, set by Mark Tetzlaff from 1981-85 … Dykstra scored in double figures for the 11th time this season and for the 46th time in his career, and scored at least 20 points for the third time this season and for the 13th time in his career … White reached double digit points for eighth time this season, the 36th time in his career … the Jackrabbits dozen 3-pointers tops the previous season-high of 11, which they did twice; vs. Marshall on Nov. 17, and at Minnesota on Dec. 4