Coyote men continue win streak over Fort Wayne Mastodons, 86-69

The Coyote men defeated the Fort Wayne Mastodons 86-69 on Love Vermillion Day in the Sanford Coyote Sports Center.

Head coach Craig Smith attributed Thursday night’s success to a good week of practice and playing strong offensively.

“We were clicking on offense…shooting 64 and a half percent in that first half,” Smith said.

By the first timeout, the Coyotes had scored 9 unanswered points in four minutes. They continued to play strong offense throughout the first half, with junior Matt Mooney having five assists.

There was also a technical foul by the Mastodons’ Xzavier Taylor, where he had shoved junior Trey Burch-Manning under the Mastodon basket. Taylor would later foul out of the game in the fourth quarter.

The score by the end of the first half was 45-23 with Coyotes leading.

In the second half, the Mastodons shot at 50 percent, putting another 46 points up on the board. This was improved from the first half, where they struggled and only made 27 percent of their shots.

The Coyotes put up 41 more points in the second half, making the final score 86-69.

Mooney uncharacteristically only made one three-pointer out of five attempts. Still, he managed to put up 17 points for the Coyotes, as did sophomore Triston Simpson. Junior Tyler Hagedorn and sophomore Tyler Peterson also made 10 points each.