By Andy Lohman

As SMU men's basketball cruised to a season-opening 69-58 win over Northwestern State, the Mustangs' most experienced players led the way.

In SMU's 33rd-straight non-conference home win, junior guard Jimmy Whitt Jr. poured in 19 points on 7-of-12 shooting, and senior guard Nat Dixon scored 13 points in addition to several hustle plays.

Senior guard Jahmal McMurray had just eight points, but scored the first five points of SMU's season with a three-pointer and a running jumper. Those points were crucial as the Demons jumped out on a 10-3 run to start the game behind Ishmael Lane (24 points, 13 rebounds).

But as the jitters wore down and the nerves settled, SMU took control of the game.

"I think just playing hard, reverting back to our training and what we do every day in practice," Dixon said of what turned the tide in the first half. "It was the first game out there, a lot of us had jitters just trying to get back in the flow of the game. Once we settled down, we played pretty well."

Dixon almost single-handedly accounted for a five-point swing in the first half. After hitting a three-pointer, he jumped a pass on the defensive end and slammed home a fast-break dunk. Later in the half, the former Boston College wide receiver made a diving interception on a Demon pass and acrobatically stayed in bounds to dish the ball to Whitt who finished a three-point play on the other end.

"Nat, I thought, was tremendous," Head Coach Tim Jankovich said. "I think he had six deflections, he was all over the court, made some really big plays. He's just a winner, you see it every day. Just a high-energy guy, a bright guy, we love having him. I wish we had him for a long time instead of just one year."

SMU didn't shoot the ball particularly well, but great effort on the offensive glass and on defense made up for shots not falling. The Mustangs grabbed 21 offensive rebounds, the most since Dec. 15, 2015 against Nicholls State, which turned into 22 second-chance points.

"I love games where you shoot poorly and win," Jankovich said. "I thought for a first game, we hadn't played in front of people yet, I thought they did a lot of really good things."

"I feel like we played defense, especially in the second half, really well," Whitt said. "Obviously there's a lot of things to work on here and there, just little things and details. Overall I feel like we played pretty solid and just to come out with a win is always a positive."

With just nine active players due to injuries, SMU's three freshmen were called into action early. The trio started to shine in the second half. Whitt connected with Feron Hunt on a rim-running alley-oop, then on the next possession fully extended to grab a rebound and finish a thunderous put-back dunk. Jahmar Young Jr. recorded his first collegiate points later in the half, throwing down a dunk off a feed from sophomore William Douglas. CJ White looked poised in 13 minutes with two points, two assists and a block.

"They played really well, they played hard, they played tough," Dixon said. "It's nothing new to us because we seem them play as hard as they can in practice against us every single day."

With the first win under their belt, SMU turns their attention to Southern Miss, who comes to Moody Coliseum for a 2 p.m. tilt on Sunday, Nov. 11. The game will be telecast on ESPN3.