Men’s Basketball Victorious in First Game of the Season

The Coyotes men’s basketball team opened up their 2023-24 season with a match against the NAIA team in the Mount Marty Lancers. 

This game followed the women’s match against Northern State.

South Dakota’s senior forward Lahat Thioune opened the season with a two point jumper to make the score 2-0 with 19:40 in the first half. 

Mount Marty took the lead at the 17:34 mark as sophomore guard Jake Jensen hit a three point shot to make it 6-5. The Lancers followed it up with a jumper from redshirt freshman guard Micah Johnson to push the lead 8-5. 

The Coyotes battled back against the Lancers as junior guard Paul Bruns hit a three point shot to tie the game back up at 10 with 16:08 in the first half. 

They continued to push their lead even further as they led by 11 with 12:01 after senior guard Bostyn Holt put in a layup. 

Towards the end of the first half, the Coyotes surpassed their previous highest lead after junior guard Jamil Safieddine tossed in a layup to make the score 34-22. Following the highest lead freshman guard Isaac Bruns hit a three pointer to make it a 15-point Coyote lead. 

 The first half ended after Holt hit two free throws to make it 44-29. 

In the second half, Mount Marty got the scoring started as their freshman guard Rugby Ryken hit a layup against the Coyotes defense to make it 44-31 with 19:28. 

South Dakota answered right back when P. Bruns hit a three pointer to push it back to a 15-point lead. 

The Coyotes continued to pile it on against the Lancers as they extended their lead after P. Bruns hit another three at the 15:49 mark to make it 58-37. 

At the 12:17 mark of the second half, I. Bruns hit a three point shot to push the Coyotes lead up to 22 to make it 66-44. 

I. Bruns hit another three to push the lead to 26 points with 8:50 left in the second half.

Towards the end of the match, sophomore forward Felix Broström hit a three point shot to push the Coyotes lead to the biggest of the match which was 32. 

The final buzzer sounded and the Coyotes secured their first victory of the season as they defeated the Lancers 85-53. 

Lancers shot the ball 34.4% (21/61) in the evening while shooting 30.8% (8/26) from behind the arc. They also shot 75% (3/4) from the free throw line. 

As for the Coyotes, they shot 49.2% (32/65) for the evening and shot 42.3% (11/26) from deep. The Coyotes shot 16 free throws on the night and made 10 of them. 

The leading scorer for the Lancers was sophomore guard/forward Tash Lunday who scored 18 points on the night. He also grabbed three rebounds, dished out two assists and had two steals. 

Jensen finished with five points and brought down seven rebounds. 

For the Coyotes, four different players scored in double-digits and leading the way was Holt and P. Bruns who put 16 points each on the board. 

Holt shot 7/8 from the field and grabbed five rebounds and had one block. 

P. Bruns shot 5/10 from the field, grabbed four rebounds and had two assists. 

The other double-digit scorers for the Coyotes were Thioune and I. Bruns as they had 15 and 12 points, respectively. 

Following the win, the Coyotes will head up to the Sioux Falls Pentagon to host UTRGV on Friday at 7 p.m.

Photo Credit: Sydney Kolln | The Volante