The SDSU men blew past Division II’s Chadron State 87-42 to win their second straight game after starting the season with a pair of tough road losses.

Monday’s game was never really in doubt as the Jackrabbits led buzzer to buzzer, holding their largest lead of 48 in the final minute.

SDSU shut down the Eagle offense in the first half, holding Chadron State to just 12 points and 18.5 percent shooting the ball as the Jackrabbits went into the half up 36-12.

One area where Chadron State did manage to keep pace with the Jacks, much to head coach Scott Nagy’s ire, was rebounding, as the Eagles held a four rebound advantage at the break, before the category tilted in SDSU’s favor in the second half.

“We didn’t rebound the ball very well defensively and that’s part of the finish, that’s part of defense – rebounding the basketball,” Nagy said. “We gave up nine offensive rebounds [in the first half], but we only gave up four in the second half on 22 misses so we did a lot better in the second half.”

All 14 Jackrabbits recorded at least five minutes and 13 of those Jacks found a way to score. Starters Jake Bittle, Cody Larson and Reed Tellinghuisen all finished in double figures. Skyler Flatten joined them with 11 points off the bench.

“It was good to be able to play some kids more minutes, particularly some of the ones who hadn’t been getting [minutes] just  so we could get a look at them and gain some confidence, because we’re not set on a lineup still in terms of who we’re bring off the bench and some of those things and so it’s good for us to see some of those guys play,” Nagy said.

Nagy went on to further compliment his players, specifically mentioning Keaton Moffitt, Logan Doyle and Cory Jacobson who had not seen action in the three games prior but stepped up Monday night.

“The thing about Cory is we already know as a coaching staff that we can count on him and we can play him at any time and he’d be solid for us,” Nagy said.

Next for the Jacks will be a bigger opponent on a bigger stage as the Jackrabbits travel to the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls to meet up against Florida Gulf Coast University on Sunday at 4 p.m.

“It’s a great facility and it’s going to be just like a home game for us so I’m really excited,” Tellinghuisen said.