Drue AmanSports Editor

Four starters reached double-digits and the Jackrabbits defeated the hapless Gents, as the SDSU rolled Centenary by 24 points.

The winless team with four scholarship players didn’t stand a chance.

That sentiment likely represented the majority of the 1,319 fans who showed up to Frost Arena to see that winless team in its last season at Division I before moving to Division III.

SDSU (11-4, 3-1) trampled Summit League bottom feeder Centenary (0-16, 0-5) 86-62 behind a near perfect statistical night from freshman Jordan Dykstra and a business-like approach in handing the Gentleman its sixteenth-straight loss to open the season.

Dykstra finished with 17 points and nine rebounds on a perfect 7-of-7 shooting from the field to bolster SDSU’s field goal shooting to 51 percent on the night. His only statistical blip: two missed free throws, something he was quick to point out.

“I missed two free throws, I had like four easy lay-ups because of Nate dishing it to me, so it’s props to my teammates more than anything.”

The Jacks likely didn’t need a prolific effort shooting from the field against the Gentlemen, but they did anyway, shooting 51 percent from the floor and 9-of-20 from beyond the arc. Four of the five SDSU starters finished in double figures despite none of them playing more 22 minutes. The only starter not to finish in double figures, guard Nate Wolters, still finished with seven points, six rebounds and six assists.

That led to considerable minutes for the SDSU bench, something Scott Nagy believed would happen heading into the matchup with the statistically last-ranked Centenary.

“The bench struggled a little bit, half our turnovers came from the bench,” said Nagy, whose team also finished a season-high 23 assists to go with averaging 94 points in their previous three games. “But we’ve been getting good bench play all year and I think they played better in the second half.”

It was a game largely played without SDSU’s starting five – and most notably – Sargent and Wolters. But it was also a game in which Dykstra, a true freshman, was taken out of the game early with the game out of reach. Dykstra’s 7-for-7 from the field raised his season field-goal percentage to 50 percent while countering that with 42 percent shooting from three-point range.

“He spent so much time early concentrating on defense and rebounding that his offense wasn’t very good,” Nagy said. “But you don’t forget how to play offense, and his shooting is coming around.”

#1.1839696:1446605821.png:mbb-cent-BRUA-002.png:SDSU?s Jordan Dykstra takes the ball to the basket against Centenary in the first half of their Jan. 6 game. :Collegian Photo by Stephen Brua