Casey Wonnenberg

Jackrabbit fans came to Frost Arena in anticipation of the SDSU Division I battle against North Dakota State University in the 33rd Annual Pork Classic Saturday night. The crowd helped cheer the SDSU men’s basketball team on to a 78-59 victory.

“The biggest role in tonight’s game was the fans,” Coach Scott Nagy said

Early in the game, the Jacks struggled to break away from NDSU. The score remained tied at 11 almost eight minutes into the game.

Then the Jacks made their move, bursting to a 40-26 lead at half time.

“I haven’t seen us play like that all year,” Nagy said. “We built a lead, played aggressively and attacked.”

Nine players made scoring contributions in the team effort. The offense was led by three Jackrabbits in double digits.

Sophomore Ben Beran and red-shirt freshman Michael Loney both scored 16 points. Sophomore Andy Kleinjan added 11. Rebounding was led by sophomore Joe Green who had 12.

Loney increased SDSU’s game scoring percentage by sinking all seven of his field goal attempts and both of his free-throws.

“The first 32 (minutes) were the best we’ve played all year. The last eight were bad,” Nagy said.

SDSU’s win improves their record to 4-11, while NDSU fell to 5-11. SDSU now remains at 2-8 versus Division I opponents.

This was the Jack’s second victory against a Division I opponent. Their first was an 82-80 win over Tennessee State on Dec. 22.

SDSU’s next match-up will be Dec. 19 against Morningside (Iowa) College. Tip-off time in Frost Arena is at 7 p.m.