The men’s basketball team came out with two wins on the week after battling St. Thomas and Western Illinois in front of the home crowd.
The Coyotes took on St. Thomas Feb. 17 in the Sanford Coyote Sports Center (SCSC). They went into the game 8-6 in Summit League play and added another win to their record after 81-60 victory of the Tommies.
St. Thomas couldn’t keep up after USD went 17-0 to begin the game. Junior guard Mason Archambault led the Coyotes with 21 points, five assists and four rebounds. He was followed closely in scoring by sophomore guard Kruz Perrott-Hunt with 19 and redshirt sophomore forward Hunter Goodrick with 17.
Senior guard Riley Miller led the Tommies with 17 points, only three of those points coming in the second half.
In the Coyotes’ final home game on Saturday against Western Illinois, the Coyotes came out with another victory (78-65), making them 10-6 in Summit League play.
Unlike the St. Thomas game, the Leathernecks kept close to the Coyotes throughout the entirety of the game, causing 16 lead changes. The score was tied at 35 going into halftime.
Going into the second half, neither team was able to pull away until the 10:45 mark when the Coyotes went 10-0 and took the lead for the rest of the game.
Sophomore forward Tasos Kamateros led the Coyotes in scoring with 24 points, which also amounted to his career-high. He was followed by Perrott-Hunt who made 18 points, Archambault with 12 and junior guard Boogie Anderson who scored 10 in just 20 minutes of play.
The Leathernecks were led in scoring by junior guard Trenton Massner who amounted 18 points and graduate forward Luka Barisic and junior guard Colton Sandage who had 16 and 15 points, respectively.
USD’s junior guard Damani Hayes tied his career-high for minutes played in the match-up against the Leathernecks, where he competed in 30 minutes of game play.
After securing two victories this past week, the Coyotes are now heading into the final week of the regular season ranked fifth in the conference standings. They will be on the road this week to take on Kansas City (Feb. 24) and Oral Roberts (Feb. 26), both teams are currently ranked higher than USD in Summit League play.
