USD men nearly pull off comeback upset in Omaha

The University of South Dakota men’s basketball team traveled into one of the toughest home environments in college basketball on Tuesday night to face the Creighton Blue Jays, giving their fans something to remember.

Coming in 16.5-point underdogs, the Coyotes, on a large stage, gave fans their most memorable Coyote game early in the Craig Smith era.

Aired on Fox Sports 1, a national audience got to see a 15-round heavyweight bout. Unfortunately, the Coyotes could only last fourteen rounds, falling 91-88 in double overtime.

“I can’t say I’ve ever played in a game like this in front of this environment against a Big East team,” senior guard Tyler Larson said. “We’re South Dakota. I’m pretty sure no one picked us to win. We came in with the mentality that we were going to fight to the end and it got very exciting at the end.”

Before fouling out with 7.8 seconds left in the second OT, Larson played 42 minutes and hit two three-pointers in the eight seconds of end of regulation to force overtime. But Larson wasn’t the only person drained from the roller-coaster loss.

“What a game; Great game for our program,” Smith, South Dakota’s first-year head coach, said. “Creighton has a fantastic basketball program and they are very well coached. We competed our tails off and hopefully we earned some respect.”

Creighton was coming off a highly-emotional victory over in-state rival University of  Nebraska-Lincoln two nights before, and both coaches acknowledged that probably had an influence on the closer-than-expected outcome Tuesday night.

“At the start of the game I thought we were a little full,” Creighton head coach Greg McDermott said. “I think we felt like we could just walk on the floor. We had just beaten Nebraska and everybody patted us on the back for 48 hours, and it would just happen again.”

Smith, who came from Nebraska, was fully aware about Creighton’s recent big win.

“They probably got off to a slow start because of the rivalry game they had just two days ago against the University of Nebraska, and that was a heck of a win,” Smith said. “We were ready to fight. I talked a couple days ago that the aggressor always win, and I thought we were the aggressor at the beginning — early on in-particular.

South Dakota, led by junior forward Tre Burnette, got off to a quick start. Burnette had the team’s first eight points and 11 of the first fifteen, giving the Coyotes a 15-5 lead nearly six minutes into the game. Burnette, a transfer from Williston State, came into the day averaging just 6.3 points per game.

“They were doing a pretty good job face-guarding Brandon Bos and Tyler Larson, so I got more opportunities to score,” Burnette said. “Lately I’ve been struggling so this is definitely a confidence booster so I want to keep things rolling.

Smith said it was nice to see his first-year starter give them a boost on offense.

“The last two games he’d start the second half and was out after two to three minutes,” Smith said. “But he stepped up to the plate. He had his best game as a ‘Yote, and we needed it.”

Led by Burnette’s 16 points, the Coyotes trotted into the locker room with a 28-25 lead at halftime.

But, as expected, the lead wasn’t going to last forever. The Blue Jays quickly regained the lead in the second half and saw their lead increasingly grow to 58-49.

“We looked like we were running out of offense and played four, five minutes of bad basketball,” Smith said.

But there was no sign of backing down by the Coyotes. Larson described them as “battle-tested” by already experiencing tough losses on the schedule in overtime and three OTs.

Four clutch free throws by senior guard Brandon Bos, and the Coyotes clawed back to make it a two-point game with 22 seconds remaining. But the Bluejays’ senior guard Austin Chatman and sophomore guard Isaiah Zierden responded with clutch free throws of their own. What ensued was Larson’s back-to-back three-pointers in the final eight seconds of regulation.

The final three was drawn up for Bos, but without much time remaining, Larson said he had to put it up.

“This is my last year. I had to make it for my team, for my university,” Larson said.

The first overtime was a similar script at the end of the regulation. They fell behind by five with 3:27 to go, but it was far from over.
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With 2:06 remaining, Bos drove to the rim and picked up two points, making it a one-point defict for the Coyotes. But Chatman, who disappointed his coach so much in the first half, continued knocking down free throws, this time two more.

“Chatman is so good,” Smith said. “He was making the right play every time it felt like.”

But an unlikely hero, the Coyotes’ junior guard Trey Norris, was the next man to step up. With zero made field goals and only two points in 31 minutes of regulation, Norris confidently tied up the game with a three-pointer. This was only moments after he had a wide-open opportunity but passed it up.

Creighton then held for the final shot, but it was no good. Fans became restless as they watched their Big East team head into double OT against the 3-6 Coyotes.

The hero of 2OT was junior guard James Milliken. Milliken came off the bench and scored eight straight points for Creighton in 2OT and they never looked back.

Milliken scored a season-high 23 points. Coming into the game he was only averaging 6.3 per game and had 22 points in his last seven games.

“He was huge. We wouldn’t of won the game without him,” McDermott said.

USD had one final shot to heave it full court and hit a three with under a second to go, but the up-and-down game finally came to an end with Creighton stealing the pass and hanging on 91-88.

Chatman finished with a team-high 24 points, including going 14-16 from the free-throw line. USD got 72 of their 88 points out of Larson, Burnette and Bos, which included a game-high 25 from Larson. Larson also chipped in with 10 rebounds and four assists.

“He’s a throwback player,” Smith said. “Some guys want to be pegged in at the (two guard) or (three) and he’s out there playing the one through five if I ask him to. He doesn’t care, he just wants to play.”

Smith said he’s not into moral victories but acknowledged his team got better after this loss.

“We got better because we handled outside influences,” Smith said. “We’re doing everything to win the Summit League Tournament and we’re making progress.”

The road doesn’t get easier for the Coyotes. Their next game is at the Pentagon in Sioux Falls against UNLV and first-year phenomena Rashad Vaughn, who’s averaging 16.2 points per game. Tip-off for that game is set for Saturday night at 7 p.m.

(Photo: Junior guard Casey Kasperbauer looks to pass during the Dec. 9 game against Creighton. The Coyotes lost to the Blue Jays 91-88 in double overtime. Grant Bosiacki / The Volante)