Andrew Holtan | The Brookings Register
VERMILLION – South Dakota swept South Dakota State in men’s basketball for the first time since 1997 on Saturday as the Coyotes beat the Jackrabbits 75-70 at the Sanford Coyote Sports Center.
It was the final game of the regular season and SDSU finished the year with an overall record of 14-17 and the Jacks went 7-9 in the Summit League. It’s the first time since 2009 that SDSU finished under .500 in conference play and the Jacks will be the No. 7 seed in the Summit League Tournament.
SDU led 16-13 with just over 13 minutes to go in the first half. The Jackrabbits then went on a 20-6 run to take a 36-19 lead with 6:28 to play in the half. USD would answer with a 19-6 run to end the half and the Jacks lead was 42-38 going into halftime.
The Coyotes went on a 7-0 run to start the second half to go up 45-42. SDSU fought back to go up 51-49 with 13:41 to go in the game. However, the Coyotes then went on a 7-2 run to regain the lead and they would not relinquish it the rest of the way.
USD was up 70-64 with 3:48 to go and Joe Sayler made a lay up and a free throw to cut the lead in half with two minutes to play. Uzziah Buntyn made two free throws and Damon Wilkinson made one out of two on the other end to make it 72-68 with 1:20 to go.
SDSU got a stop and it looked like Wilkinson had an open dunk but Fens blocked him. Then Silas Bennion missed two free throws but Sayler missed a jumper on the other end. Bennion grabbed the rebound and then Jordan Crawford made two free throws with 25 seconds left to ice the game.
The Jacks shot 42.2% from the field and were 7-of-16 from three. SDSU was led by Sayler who had 24 points, six assists and four rebounds. Wilkinson had 15 points and seven rebounds. Matthew Mors, Jaden Jackson and Alec Squires each had seven points.
The ‘Yotes shot 45.1% from the field and were 4-of-16 from three. Crawford and Fens led USD with 17 points each. Fens also had seven rebounds. Three other players scored in double figures for the Coyotes in Buntyn (15), Vince Buzelis (11) and Ethan Kizer (5).
SDSU had a 40-27 advantage in rebounds. The Jacks had 12 turnovers and the Coyotes had seven. SDSU was 9-of-13 at the free throw line and USD was 25-of-31.
SDSU will play its quarterfinal game of the summit League Tournament on Thursday night and will play No. 2 seeded St. Thomas. That tip will be 25 minutes after the No. 1 and No. 8 seeds play and that game tips off at 6 p.m.
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