Jacks Dispatch Denver in 43rd Annual Pork Classic

Saturday, January 31

Frost Arena

4:30 PM

South Dakota State University

Denver (Pork Classic)

1/31/2015 9:10:00 PM | Men's Basketball

By: SDSU Sports Info

South Dakota State held Denver to just four field goals in the second half of Saturday's 43rd Annual Pork Classic, and kept the Pioneers from scoring over the final seven-plus minutes, turning a 15-point game into a 69-39 Jackrabbit win Frost Arena.

The Jacks shot 59.5 percent (25 of 42) in picking up their eighth straight win and 15th in a row at home to improve to 17-7 overall and to 8-2 in The Summit League. Denver, which shot 21 percent in the second half (4 of 19) and 33.3 percent for the game (12 of 36) falls to 9-13 overall and to 3-6 in league play.

“Our kids are playing well, have completely bought into believing that defense is the answer, because that's a hard team to guard, it just is, and I thought we did a better job this time of just thinking less and going back to our defensive principles versus the first time we played them and all we did was think and our feet were stuck in the ground all of the time,” head coach Scott Nagy said. “It all goes back to what we're doing defensively that leads into our good offense.”

Denver jumped out to an early three point lead after making its first three shots from the field, all 3-pointers, but the Jacks tied the game for the third and final time at 13-all with 12 minutes, 36 seconds left in the first half on a George Marshall 3-pointer.

SDSU then forced the only lead change of the game on three minutes later on a Cody Larson layup, part of a 9-0 run capped by a Reed Tellinghuisen layup with just over eight minutes left in the half.

SDSU would push the lead to nine points four times in the half, the last on a Larson layup with five seconds left in the half that gave the Jacks a 32-23 lead at the break.

The Jacks quickly got the lead to 11 points in the second half, used an 11-3 spurt midway through the half to take a 52-32 lead and then put the game away with a 15-0 run to close the game, which saw the Pioneers miss their final nine field goal attempts.

Marshall led a trio of Jackrabbits in double figures with a game-high 20 points, adding two each in rebounds and assists. Larson finished with 12 points and a team-high five rebounds, while Deondre Parks added 13 points in the win.

Daniel Amigo led the visitors with 14 points, with Cam Griffin pulling down a game-high seven rebounds to go with his two points.

SDSU looks to make it nine straight on Thursday, when the Jacks travel to Fort Wayne to take on the preseason favorite Mastodons at 7 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. CT.

NOTES: SDSU leads the all-time series 7-5 overall and 5-1 at Frost Arena, where the teams played in front of 4,725 fans … SDSU improves to 14-1 this season when leading at the half, 8-0 when shooting over 50 percent and to 4-0 when holding opponents under 50 points ... the Jacks allowed under 40 points for the first time since Nov. 22, 1997, when they beat Dakota State 105-32 ... Denver's 39 points sets a Pork Classic record for fewest points by a team, topping the 50 points scored by St. Cloud State on Feb. 20, 1993 ... the Pioneers also scored a Pork Classic low 16 points in the second half, three fewer than Western Illinois' 19 first half points on Feb. 16, 2013 ... Denver's 12 total field goals sets a new Pork Classic low, seven fewer than IUPUI on Feb. 8, 2014 and UMKC on Feb. 6, 2010, and its 36 field goal attempts comes in seven fewer than SDSU vs. Southern Utah on Feb. 4, 2012 and vs. North Dakota on Jan. 21, 1983 ... SDSU improves to 33-10 in the Pork Classic, with wins in each of the last eight games ...S DSU shot better than 50 percent for the fourth straight game ... Larson cracked the career top-10 in blocks at SDSU, finishing the game with 65, tied for 10th all-time at SDSU ... Marshall scored at least 20 points in a game for the second time this season, the third time in his career, the first being a 20-point outing on Jan. 29, 2013, while playing for Wisconsin