by Bryan Boettcher, USD Sports Information
VERMILLION, S.D.—Mason Archambault (Standing Rock Sioux) scored a career-high 25 points, South Dakota made a Division I era-record 17 three-pointers and the Coyotes cruised to a 105-70 win against Omaha Saturday inside the Sanford Coyote Sports Center.
It was the third win in six days for South Dakota (10-7), which got its 10th win of the season while drawing even at 3-3 in Summit League play. Omaha (3-16, 2-6 Summit) has lost four in a row overall and five in a row against South Dakota.
South Dakota made 17-of-30 three-point shots while Omaha made 4-of-12. The Coyotes made 30-of-37 free throws while the Mavericks made 14-of-21.
Archambault played a role in both columns. He made 2-of-5 from beyond the arc and 15-of-16 from the stripe. He was the 10th-leading foul shooter in the nation entering the weekend. Archambault topped 20 points for the second time this season.
“The game is easy when you make 17 three’s,” USD head coach Todd Lee joked following the game. “Maybe it was contagious. Guys started to make some, and we haven’t shot the three well to say the least – we’re averaging about four in league. But today we make 17 and everybody stepped up and knocked them down so that was great to see.”
The contagion started with Kruz Perrott-Hunt, Tasos Kamateros and Erik Oliver who combined to make 7-of-8 triples in the first 10 minutes of the game. Kamateros buried three of the seven and scored 13 of his 15 points during that early stretch. USD made 9-of-14 from deep in the first half and led 57-33 at the break.
“Tasos was very disappointed the other day with his shooting performance,” said Lee. “He came out on Friday and was in the gym for hours just shooting, and you can see the results.
“Kruz, it was great to see him knock down those shots, Mason’s been shooting the ball well, and it was good for Erik to knock down those 3’s. And then Keaton came in and did a great job. You can see why we’re high on him as a player. He’s going to be a very good player in our program.”
Lee was talking about true freshman Keaton Kutcher who had his redshirt pulled Thursday night and came up with his first collegiate points Saturday. Kutcher made 3-of-6 three-point shots, 4-of-8 buckets overall, and finished with 11 points.
Omaha got 11 points each from Frankie Fidler and Felix Lemetti, but couldn’t keep pace with South Dakota despite shooting 47 percent from the field. South Dakota won the rebound battle 38-26 and the turnover battle 11-9. Hunter Goodrick had 10 points and 13 rebounds for the Coyotes in registering his second consecutive double-double. Kamateros handed out a career-high eight assists.
