The Coyote men’s basketball team returned home for the first time in over two weeks to host the Mount Marty Lancers last night in a 97-58 victory.
USD came in with a record of 3-4 losing their last two games. As for the Lancers, they were 4-6 on the season losing their last game to Southwest Minnesota State.
For the Coyotes, this game counts toward their overall record, however it is an exhibition game for the Lancers since they came up from NAIA to Division-1 to face the Coyotes.
USD took the lead early on. They headed into halftime up 52-21 over the Lancers.
The Coyotes were led in scoring by junior forward Tasos Kamateros with 15 points. Kamateros went six for nine from field goal and three for four from three-point range.
The Lancers were led in scoring at half by freshman guard/forward Tash Lunday with eight points.
The Coyotes shot 55.6 percent from the floor and 60 percent from the three point line in the first half and had no free throws. The Lancers shot 32 percent from the floor and 28.6 percent from three. The Lancers made the only free throw in the first half.
In the second half the Coyotes beat the Lancers in shooting 45-37.
The Coyotes were led in the second half by sophomore forward Mihai Carcoana with 17 points on perfect shooting (7-7 field goals and 3-3 from 3- point range).
“(Carcoana) is capable of shooting it. We were talking before the game and I was watching him play as a 16-year old in Romania and I was the only college coach at the game, and he had six threes in the game,” head men’s basketball coach Eric Peterson said.
The Lancers were led by senior guard Matthew Becker and sophomore forward Hunter Kotrous both having six points in the second half.
The Coyotes shot 58.1 percent from the field, 53.8 percent from the three-point line and 100 percent from the free throw line. The Lancers shot 47.1, 23.1 and 50 percent, respectively.
“It’s always good when you make shots. When you make 19 threes, coaching becomes a lot easier,” Peterson said. “But it was doing the simple things and the right things by making the right play that got us a lot of those open looks.”
The Coyotes ended up winning the game 97-58. With five Coyotes in double digits scoring in Carcoana (19), Kamateros (18), sophomore guard Paul Bruns (13), sophomore guard Keaton Kutcher (12) and junior guard Kruz Perrott-Hunt (10).
The Lancers move on to face Midland University on Wednesday and the Coyotes will head back on the road to face BYU in Salt Lake City on Saturday.
