No. 14 seed South Dakota State threw its hardest punch at third-seeded Baylor Thursday night at the Pit — unfortunately for the Jackrabbits it’s the only one that landed.
South Dakota State led 19-7 after Nate Wolter hit a jumper with 13:23 left in the half.
But the Bears’ speed, size and athleticism was too much as they took over and controlled the rest of the game beating the Jackrabbits 68-60 Thursday night at the Pit.
“They came out there swinging, knocking down open shots, knocking down contested threes,” Bears’ guard Pierre Jackson said. “Coach called a timeout, and we had to regather ourselves.”
After the early deficit, Baylor outscored South Dakota State 29-9 in the last 13 minutes of the half to take a 36-28 lead into the break.
“We knew they were a great team and we’re pleased to get the win,” Baylor head coach Scott Drew said. “I think in the beginning of the game we showed our jitters a little bit, then after that, I was very pleased with how we calmed down and got back to playing basketball.”
The Jackrabbits did make a final push midway through the second half as they cut the lead to three points after Brayden Carlson’s layup made it 47-44 with 12:44 left in the game.
But the Bears answered back like they did the entire game and reeled off eight-straght points to close out the game.
“The way things were going, we could have easily bowed out and gotten beat by 25, and our kids didn’t,” South Dakota State head coach Scott Nagy said. “They didn’t quit and I’m proud of them for that.”
Four Bears finished in double-figures. Jackson led the way with 18 points. Brady Heslip hit on five 3-pointers as he finished with 17 points. Anthony Jones added 11 points and Quincy Miller had 10.
Baylor outrebounded the Jackrabbits 35-23.
The Bears made 23-of-52 shots from the field for 44.2 percent. South Dakota State shot 21-of-50 for 42.0 percent.
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Jackrabbits’ Wolters led all scorers with 19 points off of 7-of-13 shooting.
The Bears face-off this Saturday against Colorado in the third round of the tournament.
“Baylor is obviously a good team,” Jackrabbits’ forward Tony Fiegen said. “They didn’t get a three seed for walking through the whole season. They are a good team, they will probably, I don’t think they’re done yet, they will probably get a couple more wins.”
