by Bryan Boettcher, USD Sports Information
KANSAS CITY, Mo.—Kansas City stifled South Dakota defensively and got 18 points and 12 rebounds from Josiah Allick en route to a 72-63 win Thursday inside the Swinney Center. The Roos have won six of their last seven while the Coyotes’ win streak was stopped at four.
Kansas City (19-10, 12-5 Summit) led 31-9 with eight minutes to go in the first half. The Roos made 12 of their first 15 shots while holding the Coyotes to 4-of-17. Evan Gilyard II scored 11 of his game-high 20 points during that stretch while Allick scored 10 of his 18. South Dakota committed half of its 12 turnovers during the run.
South Dakota (17-11, 10-7) got 15 points from Tasos Kamateros and 13 from Mason Archambault (Standing Rock Sioux). Kruz Perrott-Hunt had nine points on 4-of-13 shooting, ending a string of 14 consecutive games in which he had scored in double figures.
Kansas City’s largest lead of the game was 46-22 after the Roos scored the first seven points out of halftime. South Dakota fought all the way back to make it a six-point game on a Kamateros 3 with 2:47 left that made it 64-58. Kamateros scored all but two of his 15 points during that rally and Perrott-Hunt scored all of his nine.
South Dakota made just one field goal and totaled five points the rest of the way while Kansas City iced it at the free-throw line. The Roos were 16-of-21 from the charity stripe while the Coyotes were 8-of-9.
Kansas City’s win combined with Oral Roberts’ overtime loss to South Dakota State Thursday created a three-way tie for second place in the Summit League standings with North Dakota State joining those two teams. Significant because South Dakota, now locked into the No. 5 seed, will play one of those teams in the opening round of the Summit League Tournament.
