Right now we feel like we’re playing our best basketball and it’s the perfect time to do so.”

Junior guard Zeke Mayo

SIOUX FALLS — After a bit of a slow start, South Dakota State went on a 24-0 run to close out the first half and that propelled the Jackrabbits to a 79-63 victory over Oral Roberts in the quarterfinals of the Summit League Tournament on Saturday night.

No. 1 seeded SDSU scored the first four points of the game and the eighth-seeded Golden Eagles then went on a 16-2 run to go up 16-6 six minutes into the game. The Jacks then trailed 21-14 but outscored ORU 24-0 in the final 10:21 of the half and took a 38-21 lead into halftime.

“I didn’t realize it was [a 24-0 run] during it because we just wanted to continue to worry about the next play,” said SDSU head coach Eric Henderson. “I knew they were stuck on 21 for a while and I wanted to keep them there. I thought our energy, our celebration of each other and our ability to help each other out, because we weren’t perfect, was pretty special,” Henderson said.

ORU made five of its first 10 shots and the Jackrabbit defense locked in after that as the Golden Eagles made three of their next 18 attempts. Junior guard Zeke Mayo said his team did a good job of playing up on the perimeter and forcing ORU into taking bad shots.

“We were forcing tough unassisted shots. Those are the shots we want to give up and then when we get first-shot rebounds it allows us to play a lot faster. We wanted to slow them down and make them play in the half court and when the ball is going through the hoop [on the offensive end], that’s what they have to do,” Mayo said.

The highlight of the 24-0 run was a poster dunk from sophomore forward William Kyle III. It was one of four highlight dunks on the night for Kyle and Mayo said plays like that help get the team going.

“It gives us so much energy. [The dunk] is an energy play. Nine times out of 10 it comes off a defensive stop and then he runs the floor and outruns their bigs. We reward those kinds of things and as long as he keeps doing that, he’s going to keep putting people in the rim,” Mayo said.

Kyle was one of five Jackrabbits to score in double figures on Saturday night as he finished the game with 16 points and nine rebounds. Last year was his first Summit League Tournament and he scored a combined two points in two games. He said he wanted to prove to everyone that he can play well in big moments.

“There was a lot of motivation [to play better], just knowing how those two games went last year. I wouldn’t say I wanted to redeem myself, but I wanted to be better,” Kyle said.

The Jacks led 48-31 four minutes into the second half and the Golden Eagles went on a 13-2 run to cut the lead to six with 11:29 to play. SDSU then became the more physical team as the Jacks started attacking the paint and went on a 7-0 run. The Jacks doubled up the Golden Eagles in paint scoring, outscoring them 36-18, and Henderson said SDSU put emphasis on dominating down low.

“We wanted to establish the paint. Last night when I watched Oral Roberts, they scored in multiple areas. They made 10 three’s, outscored South Dakota in the paint and then they got to the foul line. We wanted to really make sure that we owned the paint. Protect it, which we did a great job of, but also needed to make sure we scored down there and we did a good job of that. I thought [Kyle, Luke Appel, Matthew Mors and Nate Barnhart] gave us great minutes,” Henderson said.

The Golden Eagles pulled within 10 with 2:34 to play but a 3-pointer from Appel was the final dagger and SDSU advanced to the semifinals.

The Jacks shot 55.1% from the field and were 8-of-18 from three. Appel had 18 points and Mayo had 15. Charlie Easley had 14 points and Kalen Garry had 10.

ORU shot 37.3% from the field and was 12-of-35 from beyond the arc. The Golden Eagles were led by Isaac McBride who had 20 points and five rebounds. Kareem Thompson and Jailen Bedford each had 15 points.

SDSU was 17-of-20 at the free throw line and ORU was 7-of-10. The Jacks had 11 turnovers and the Golden Eagles had six.

SDSU plays No. 4 seeded St. Thomas on Monday night at 6 p.m.  The Jacks are now riding a six-game win streak and Mayo said this is the best his team has played all season.

“Right now we feel like we’re playing our best basketball and it’s the perfect time to do so,” Mayo said.