Coyote men fall to South Dakota State 79-75

After going into to halftime with a four point lead, the Coyotes were unable to hold off a South Dakota State comeback in the second half. The Jackrabbits outscored the Coyotes 51-43 in the second half and went on to win 79-75 in front of a packed house of 4,832 people who came to see the final showdown between SDSU and USD in the DakotaDome.

The Coyotes came out strong in the first half, despite shooting just 17 percent from three point range they were able to get out to an 11 point lead at one point. After shooting poorly in the first half, the Jackrabbits were able to find their footing in the second half and improved upon their shooting. Jackrabbit redshirt freshman Mike Daum lit up the DakotaDome in the second half, shooting 4-4 on three pointers and 5-8 from the field. Daum accounted for 16 of SDSU’s points and grabbed eight rebounds.

Coyote senior guard Casey Kasperbauer led the way for the Coyotes with 14 points. Fouls were the name of the game with 58 total fouls being called. SDSU senior guard Deondre Parks fouled out of the game, as did Coyote guards junior Shy McClelland and senior Tre Burnette.

These losses hurt the USD offense down the stretch with Seven players ended up with four fouls, which forced each team to play cautiously late in the game. The Coyotes were able to play SDSU close and after the game Coyote head coach Craig Smith remarked on how close the Coyotes are getting to competing with the best teams in the league.

“We’re competing with the best teams, we just haven’t gotten over the hump. It gets old saying that, the guys are right there but sooner or later you’ve got to do it. And we will,” Smith said.

With the loss USD falls to 10-11 on the season and 2-5 in the Summit League. With the win SDSU improves to 16-5 overall and 5-2 in conference play. The Jackrabbits are currently second in the Summit League behind only University of Nebraska Omaha. The Coyotes are next in action this Thursday, Jan. 28, in Colorado to take on the University of Denver. Tip off time is 8:00 p.m.