It was a bit of a slow start for South Dakota State on Saturday night in their opening-round game against Omaha. The Mavericks were making outside shots and the Jackrabbits couldn’t pull away. Midway through the first half Omaha actually held a lead a couple of times.
Then Douglas Wilson took over. There was no matchup for Wilson that worked real well for Omaha. Darrius Hughes doesn’t have the size and Matt Pile the quickness. Anyone else who defended him hadn’t played much prior to the last couple of games when injuries hit the Omaha program. Wilson put on a show in the post, was beating Omaha guards down the floor for dunks and layups, and left many an Omaha defender going back down the floor with their head down.
Fellow senior Ayo Akinwole didn’t want to go home either as the senior guard went on a stretch with 4 3-pointers in 2-minute stretch in the second half to cut an 18 point lead to 11. The shorthanded and 8th seeded Mavericks just didn’t have enough in the end.
The Jacks finished with an 84-71 win and move on to play the winner of Oral Roberts and North Dakota Monday Night at 5:45.
Wilson ended with 25 points 4 rebounds and 7 assists as he consistently found the open man out of the double team. Baylor Scheierman flirted with another triple-double as he ended with 18 points 11 rebounds and 7 assists.
In addition to Akinwole’s 26, Jadin Booth added 13 and Kyle Luedtke 10. Omaha was playing without injured starters Marlon Ruffin and Wanjang Tut and just didn’t have the firepower to keep up with the Jacks.