SDSU tops Eastern Illinois and Iowa to open year 2-0

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From Gojacks.Com

IOWA CITY, Iowa – The SDSU men’s basketball team finished off a perfect season-opening road trip with a hard-fought 79-69 win over Iowa on Sunday afternoon, thanks to a career day from Nate Wolters.

“We struggled offensively, but fortunately we had Nate tonight,” SDSU head coach Scott Nagy said after the win. “When everything else broke down he just took the ball and made plays, and honestly when you’ve got good teams, that’s what happens, you have good guards that make plays off the dribble.”

A sophomore from St. Cloud, Minn., Wolters led the Jackrabbits with a career-high 25 points and a career-high nine assists in the win, which boosts the Jacks record to 2-0.

Clint Sargent added 16 points and Dale Moss 10 for the Jacks. Chad White and Jordan Dykstra led the way with six rebounds.

The Jacks and Hawkeyes played close throughout most of the first half, although Iowa did use a 9-0 run to take an 18-12 lead midway though the half. The Jacks hung tough though, and used an 8-0 run to end the half with a 38-29 lead.

Iowa opened the second half with a 6-0 run to cut the lead to two, and then took the lead with 14:54 left in the game at 41-40.

Five lead changes followed, before the Jacks took the lead for good on a Chad White three-pointer with 10:55 left to play. The host Hawkeyes stayed within one possession for most of the rest of the game until Wolters sunk a pair of free throws to put the Jacks up 75-67 with 1:30 on the clock.

The Jacks return home to start a season-long seven game homestand on Thursday against Southwest Minnesota State. The game from Frost Arena begins at 7 p.m.

CHARLESTON, Ill. – The SDSU men opened the season on the road for the second straight year, and for the second straight year, they open with a win, as the Jackrabbits downed Eastern Illinois 67-55 on Friday night in both team’s season opener.

“Our veteran kids played great. If we can get that kind of production out of our older kids we will be a hard team to beat,” head coach Scott Nagy said after the win. “I was really pleased with the effort our kids gave on the defensive end. It’s what won the game for us.”

Clint Sargent led the Jacks with 19 points in the win, Dale Moss added 16 points, while Nate Wolters rounded out the Jacks double figure scorers with 11 points.

SDSU struggled from the field overall, shooting just 38.6 percent from the floor, but made up for it with a 10-for-20 night from three-point range, the difference in the game.

The Panthers opened the scoring and led 4-0 early, but a Sargent three-pointer got the Jacks to within one and a Moss jumper less than three minutes into the game put the Jacks up for good at 5-4.

The Jacks outscored the Panthers 15-4 over the last 5:48 of the half to take a 40-30 lead into the locker room at halftime.

The Jacks held onto that lead for the second half, leading by as many as 17 points and never trailing by more than nine.

#1.1782241:2847222024.png:Mens-Bball-1-Aaron-Stoneberger.png:Clint Sargent attempts a shot Nov. 1.:Collegian Photo by Aaron Stoneberger