SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — South Dakota State used a dominating defensive effort to defeat Towson 61-48 on Friday, Dec. 1, at the Sanford Pentagon in a non-conference matchup.
The Jackrabbits and Tigers battled in the early going. The two sides traded baskets over the course of the first eight minutes and were deadlocked before a William Kyle III dunk with 11 minutes, 44 seconds in the first half put SDSU in front 11-9.
From there, the Jackrabbits controlled the contest.
SDSU utilized two separate seven-point scoring runs to distance itself from Towson. Kalen Garry hit a 3-pointer at the 1:27 mark to give SDSU a 12-point edge, its largest of the half. A Tyler Tejada layup for the Tigers ended a six-minute scoreless stretch and cut their deficit to 27-17 against the Jackrabbits at halftime.
Towson worked to cut into the SDSU lead throughout the second half. Messiah Jones hit a 3-pointer for the Tigers with 10:54 remaining in the game to make it 40-33, however Garry knocked in another trey to boost the Jackrabbit advantage back to double digits. The Tigers again cut the score back to a seven-point margin at 50-43 with 7:02 left, but Luke Appel made a layup on an assist by Charlie Easley with 6:09 on the clock to jump-start a 9-0 Jackrabbit run and put the game out of reach.
The Jackrabbits closed out the victory and improved to 4-4 overall with the win. Towson fell to 3-5 in the two teams’ first all-time meeting.
Notes
- Zeke Mayo paced SDSU’s scoring with a game-high 20 points. Despite going 1 of 9 from deep, Mayo was 6-for-9 from inside the arc on the night along with making all five of his free throw attempts. He tied for a team-high two steals with two other Jackrabbits.
- Kyle III had 14 points, seven rebounds and two blocks for the Jacks. Appel finished with 11 points. They were joined in the front court by Nate Barnhart who had three blocks and Matthew Mors who scored five points in five minutes of action.
- Garry had a career-high 11 points while handling defensive duties on Towson’s leading scorer coming into the matchup in Tejada. The Tiger guard finished with 13 points but did it on 4 of 14 from the field.
- Easley snagged a career-high nine rebounds in a team-high 38 minutes played for South Dakota State. His five assists were also a career high.
- The Jackrabbits held the Tigers to a season-low field goal percentage of 27.6%. Towson’s 48 points were its second lowest output on the year.
- SDSU’s 48 points given up are the lowest in almost exactly two years. The Jackrabbits gave up 47 points on Dec. 3, 2021, when they defeated Minnesota-Morris in Brookings by a 112-47 margin.
- The Jacks finished with a 36-18 edge in points in the paint. They also won the turnover battle giving up the ball nine times to the Tigers’ 12.
Up Next
South Dakota State returns to Brookings for a matchup against Kent State. The Jackrabbits will host the Golden Flashes at approximately 8:15 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 5, in Frost Arena as part part of a doubleheader with the SDSU women’s basketball team.