Coyotes cruise past Peru State

The Coyotes (17-8, 7-3 CONF) defeated the Peru State Bobcats (12-11, 11-6 CONF) 106-45 Tuesday inside the Sanford Coyote Sports Center.

USD, who earned their sixth consecutive victory, took a break from their conference schedule to host the Bobcats, a member of the NAIA. The Coyotes follow this game with six more Summit League matches before the Summit League Tournament.

“It’s good to have a game like that,” head coach Todd Lee said following the game. “It seems like every game has been a grind and it’s fun for our guys to get the bench in. Our bench needs to get better so they need minutes and time, and we got to play them a lot tonight.”

Every Coyote to see playing time had at least eight minutes on the floor. Senior guard Brandon Armstrong logged the most time off the bench with 18 minutes of action while freshman forward Tasos Kamateros led all bench scorers with a career-high 15 points on a perfect 6-6 shooting effort.

Kamateros said the shoot around prepared the team well for their success.

“I think today we played as a team and the baskets came from teamwork,” Kamateros said. “That worked very well for us today.”

Senior guard Cody Kelley led all Coyotes in both minutes and points, as well as steals in a night to remember. In 25 minutes, Kelley scored a career-high 27 points and added a career-high seven steals. In addition, his 10 made field goals and six three-point baskets were also both career-highs.

“I think my teammates did a really good job of finding me in open space,” Kelley said. “Triston (Simpson) is playing really well at the point right now, and he’s so unselfish and (Tyler Peterson) is so unselfish. I’m really just getting good shots because of them.”

Senior guards Triston Simpson and Tyler Peterson finished with five and four assists on the night respectively. Junior guard Stanley Umude dropped 16 points and senior forward Tyler Hagedorn totaled 14 points and seven rebounds.

Freshman guard Ante Martinac tallied eight points to lead all Bobcat scorers, while senior guard Drew Switzer scored seven. Senior guard Nick Brannon ripped down a team-best five boards to go with two steals.

The Coyotes finish up Summit League action uninterrupted as they travel to Grand Forks, North Dakota to take on North Dakota on Saturday, Feb. 8.