USD men blow 21 point lead, lose 73-79 to Omaha

The Coyote men’s basketball team suffered a harsh 73-79 loss to the Omaha Mavericks after blowing a 21 point lead in the second half of Saturday evening’s game in the DakotaDome.

It was a high intensity game with rapid fire exchanges between the two teams and the Coyotes were able to maintain a solid lead throughout the first half, but suffered a series of setbacks on both offense and defense in the second which led to their defeat.

After halftime, USD led Omaha by 21 points at the 15:12 mark, but were soon fighting off a Mavericks comeback as Omaha went on a 19-6 run to close to within 10 of the Coyotes. With under five minutes remaining in the game, a series of USD turnovers coupled with a series of Coyote fouls further closed the gap between the two teams to within two baskets.

As the clocked ticked down to the final minute of the game, the USD lead was cut to just one point before an Omaha shot from beyond the arc gave the Mavericks the lead and the momentum they would need to win the game.

“We just let up. We got too complacent with the lead we had and we thought we had the game won,” said junior guard Shy McClelland.

McClelland led the Coyotes in scoring with 15 points and three assists.

USD head coach Craig Smith said one of the major factors that led to the Coyote loss was a combination of a soft press by Omaha and a series of fouls by USD.

In total the Mavericks were 29 for 35 from the free throw line.

“At the end of the day they kicked our rear ends on the free throw line,” Smith said.

The Coyotes will play North Dakota State University Wednesday in Fargo.