by Evan Maldonado
A game-high 26 points from Matt Dentlinger and an all-around effort on the offensive end for South Dakota State helped the Jacks take round one of the South Dakota Showdown Series by a final score of 82-64 Saturday night in Vermillion.
With the loss, the Coyotes have now dropped five straight to the Jacks and fall to 8-10 (3-3 Summit) on the year while SDSU improves to 9-9 (4-2 Summit). It was also the return of head coach Eric Peterson to the Coyote sideline.
Entering the game as the nation’s fourth-best three-point shooting team, South Dakota was held to 33 percent from the arc tonight and 37 percent from the field. Paul Bruns was the leading scorer for USD with 16 points off the bench on 5-of-10 shooting. Bruns also knocked down two of his three three-point attempts and grabbed five boards on the evening. Mason Archambault, Kruz Perrott-Hunt, and A.J. Plitzuweit all scored 10 points each. Max Burchill provided eight points off the bench on 3-of-4 shooting. Tasos Kamateros had six and a team-high seven rebounds while Damani Hayes had four points and three rebounds.
The game was within one possession at the midway point of the half. South Dakota had taken its fourth one-point lead of the game off a jumper in the paint from Bruns at the 10:10 mark. With the score at 16-15 in favor of the Coyotes, the Jacks responded with a 16-0 run in six minutes to gain a 31-16 lead with four minutes remaining. A pair of free-throws broke the scoreless streak for USD and Burchill provided a much-needed spark to get the Coyotes back in the game. Burchill started with a pull-up three-pointer and then scored a fastbreak layup off the glass to cut the Jack lead down to single-digits with three minutes remaining in the half. An 8-0 run after that leaped South Dakota State to a 39-25 lead at the break.
The second half was more of the first for SDSU as they continued to knock down shots and built a 20-point advantage less than seven minutes into the second half. That large lead stayed there for the rest of the contest as South Dakota State won tonight’s game by 18 points.
All five starters for the Jacks scored in double-figures led by Dentlinger’s 26 on 10-of-11 from the field. Zeke Mayo dropped 19 points and connected on three three-pointers while tying Dentlinger for a team-high eight rebounds. Matt Mims scored 13 points while Alex Arians and Matthew Mors had 10 points each. South Dakota State shot 47.5 percent from the floor and 25.8 percent from three. The Jackrabbits outrebounded the Coyotes 39-27 and limited the Coyote offense to four second-chance points.
