by 21st consecutive game at Frost Arena Saturday, rolling past Omaha 81-64 in front of 3,845 fans at the 2020 Pork Classic.
The Jackrabbits (18-8, 9-2 Summit League) claimed their fourth-straight victory overall and maintained their hold on first place in the league standings, thanks in part to four double-digit scorers and a 39-32 advantage on the boards.
Douglas Wilson led the scoring attack with 24 while grabbing eight boards and going 6-of-6 from the free throw line.
Matt Dentlinger went 9-of-12 from the field for 19 points while bringing down seven rebounds. Alex Arians tied a career-high with 19 points to go along with five rebounds and three assists.
David Wingett (Winnebago) tied for the team lead with eight rebounds and scored 10 points. Noah Friedel led the Jacks with five assists.
“It’s always enjoyable to be back in Frost Arena and we had a great crowd,” head coach Eric Henderson. “I can’t thank our supporters enough because they certainly give us a lot of confidence and a lot of energy. We got off to a great start and it was mostly because of them. Obviously in the first half, we had a little lull there, but that 7-0 run to end the half was really important for us and we got the momentum back. We played pretty well in the second half for the hard-earned victory. Derrin (Hansen) does a tremendous job with those guys (Omaha), so it was a good win for our program.”
Down 7-5 early, SDSU charged ahead using a 16-1 run that ended with nine straight. Arians had nine during the spurt to put the Jacks ahead 21-8 midway through the first half.
Omaha inched back to within five (30-25) over the next five minutes, though, and with 2:56 on the clock hit a triple to tie it, 33-all. The Jackrabbits recovered momentum with a Wingett 3 soon after, though, and closed the half with seven unanswered to lead at the break, 40-33.
Omaha hit a bucket on the opening possession of the second half, but it was all SDSU from there.
A 12-1 run that included a scoreless Maverick drought of three-plus minutes helped the Jacks build a 52-36 lead with 15 minutes to play, and State’s lead hit 20 (62-42) on two Freidel free throws at 10:21.
The teams settled into back-and-forth play down the stretch as South Dakota State pushed its home court record to 13-0 this season.
