by South Dakota State men’s basketball rolled past Western Illinois Saturday, 91-56, as all five starters scored in double figures at the 2020 Lamb Bonanza inside Frost Arena.
Douglas Wilson led the attack with 19 points, shooting 9-of-13 from the field. Alex Arians tallied his first double-double of the season with 12 points and 11 assists.
David Wingett (Winnebago Tribe) finished with a career-high 15 points, thanks in part to a fast start that saw the Winnebago, Nebraska guard tally 10 points through the opening seven and a half minutes of action.
Matt Dentlinger dished out a team-leading four assists alongside 14 points, while Noah Freidel added with 10 points, four rebounds and two assists.
SDSU (11-7, 2-1 Summit League) broke 90 and shot better than 55 percent for the second-straight game, while tallying 10-plus 3-pointers for the fourth consecutive contest.
“It’s been good to be back in Frost Arena for the last couple games and I’m certainly proud of our guys’ effort tonight,” head coach Eric Henderson said. “We didn’t quite have the start that we were maybe looking for, but credit to our guys for hanging in there. Other than that first five minutes, I thought we really competed and battled. David Wingett really sparked that when he had seven points in that early run, and that got the crowd going which gave us energy. We’re really proud of our guys that we were able to get the win tonight.”
Even at 10 through the opening five minutes, a Wilson layup opened a run of 11 unanswered for the Jacks, who gained a 21-10 separation early thanks to Wingett’s hot start.
SDSU endured a nearly three-minute scoreless drought midway through the half, but used a stout defensive effort to keep the Leathernecks down double digits. Trading scores the rest of the half, State took a 40-26 lead into the locker room.
Out of the break, the Jacks rattled off an 11-2 run on the way to their first 20-point lead of the day (57-37) on a Scheierman jumper at 13:47, but couldn’t shake the Leathernecks, who fought back to within 15 (62-47) with a burst of eight unanswered near the under-12 media break.
The Jacks, however, put the game on ice with an 18-0 run of their own that started with a pair of Dentlinger free throws at 10:33 and closed with a Wingett free throw at 5:22.
Ahead 80-47 at that point, SDSU emptied its bench, continued the hot shooting, and closed out its 18th straight home victory.
