by Bryan Boettcher, USD Sports Information
VERMILLION, S.D.—South Dakota point guard Kruz Perrott-Hunt scored a career-high 25 points and Mason Archambault (Standing Rock Sioux) added 16 more as the Coyotes topped Tennessee State 83-66 Sunday inside the Sanford Coyote Sports Center.
The Coyotes, 3-1 overall, improved to 2-0 at home and 2-0 in the Nebraska MTE. The final game of the event is Saturday when South Dakota travels to Lincoln, Nebraska, to face the Cornhuskers in a 1 p.m. tip.
Free throws were the difference in this one. Tennessee State utilized an aggressive full-court, pressing defense to its detriment. The Coyotes reached the bonus early in both halves and shot 49 free throws, making 39. Perrott-Hunt was 15-of-16 from the stripe. Archambault was 11-of-12.
Hunter Goodrick added 12 points and a career-best 11 boards for South Dakota, which finished with a 41-26 edge on the glass. Kassim Nicholson had 10 rebounds to go with nine points for Tennessee State (1-3).
The Tigers out of the Ohio Valley Conference, jumped out to a 12-2 lead and led 22-11 eight minutes into the contest. It was near the end of the first half that the fouls added up, frustrations mounted and the Coyotes made their move.
Perrott-Hunt scored 12 points during an 18-2 USD run that turned a 29-20 deficit into a 38-31 lead with 2:37 left in the first half. The Tigers were assessed back-to-back technical fouls following a shooting foul drawn by Perrott-Hunt. Archambault made all four technical free throw and Perrott-Hunt made his two to complete a six-point possession.
South Dakota got hot from behind the arc and started fast out of the intermission. Perrott-Hunt made one of his two 3-pointers and Tasos Kamateros made back-to-back triples to give USD its largest lead at 54-42 five minutes into the half.
Tennessee State got within five points at 63-58 on a Marcus Fitzgerald Jr. jumper with 6:30 to go. South Dakota scored the game’s next 10 points – all at the foul line – to make it 73-58 less than 90 seconds later and the Tigers couldn’t recover.
Carlos Marshall Jr., who missed all of last season due to injury, came off the bench to lead the Tigers with 16 points on 6-of-8 shooting. He made all three 3-pointers he took, but the rest of the team was 2-of-12 from behind the arc. Dedric Boyd, who came in leading TSU with 16 points per game, had three points on 1-of-5 shooting Sunday.
