Coyotes break slump
A one-game break from Summit League play helped the University of South Dakota men’s basketball team overcome its four-game losing streak Tuesday night.
The Coyotes took care of business and dismantled an inferior Peru State team 80-40.
Interim head coach Joey James said his team looked at this game against the 9-12 NAIA school out of Nebraska to work on all facets of their game and also get back to having fun on the court.
“I just wanted the guys to get out there and have fun,” James said. “There were times when I told the guys that our execution was poor and we were getting sloppy with the ball. We stayed disciplined, and I thought they handled it well.”
Despite playing their second unit for the majority of the game, South Dakota coasted to an easy win. They lead 40-15 at halftime and held the Bobcats to six field goals on 30 attempts.
James said it was nice to get a big lead early and not have to worry about a potential ugly loss on the schedule.
“We came in here and did a nice job of taking care of business like we were supposed to tonight,” James said.
During the Coyotes four-game losing streak, they were out-rebounded three times, including 32-22 versus South Dakota State.
That was not an issue against Peru State’s undersized team. USD out-rebounded the Bobcats 39-31.
Senior center Trevor Gruis held a four-inch height advantage over the Bobcats’ big man Justin Jones and finished with seven boards in just 15 minutes of play.
Junior forward Tavian Pomlee said it was nice to see his team control the glass during Tuesday night’s win.
“Hopefully we can continue that,” Pomlee said. “We just have to clean up the edges a little bit.”
For the first time since they beat Graceland University 112-85 Nov. 30, all 11 players scored for the Coyotes. The leading scorer on the night was sophomore forward Tyler Flack, who finished with 13 points.
The final player to score was seldom-used guard Jack Foley, a junior from Centerville, S.D. Foley made the first two free-throws of his career in the second half of the game.
“It took awhile for me to finally get the ball in the basket,” Foley said. “I was just happy that we were able to get a win like this to get some confidence back.”
South Dakota’s next game is against Denver this Saturday. The team beat them in the DakotaDome earlier this season, but James said the Pioneers are playing as well as anyone in the conference right now.
Tip-off is set for 5 p.m.
Follow reporter Grant Bosiacki on Twitter @gbos2
