South Dakota Rides 20-0 Run to Win Over Cats in Fieldhouse on Sunday

Sunday, December 18

BOZEMAN

2 p.m.

Montana State University

5-7

South Dakota

9-5

Team	1	2	F
South Dakota	32	48	80
Montana State	36	32	68

Tyler Hall

Photo by: Brooks Nuanez

12/18/2016 5:50:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Coyotes top MSU for second time in two weeks

By: Bill Lamberty

South Dakota used a 20-0 run midway through the second half to eradicate an eight-point Montana State lead and defeat the Bobcats 80-68 in Worthington Arena on Sunday afternoon.

That run featured eight straight missed shots by MSU and punctuated a second half in which USD shot 70.8% from the floor. "They kept fighting," said Bobcat sophomore Tyler Hall, who scored a game-high 32 points to lead all players. "Throughout the game there were runs, and they just kept fighting. Credit them."

The game-turning run wiped away a Bobcat lead that had lasted for 26 minutes and grew to 10 points just minutes earlier. If the run had a key moment, it came with 10 minutes to play. After the Coyotes had carved MSU's lead to five points Trey Burch-Manning missed a pair of free throws, but USD forward Tyler Flack climbed Benson Osayande's back to wrestle away an offensive rebound, and on the kick-out Triston Simpson hit a three-pointer.

"We were in good shape," Fish said, "but they kept chipping away and then they missed the free throws and got the offensive rebound and hit a three. I thought that was an important time."

An and-one layup by Simpson gave USD the lead for the first time since the game's early moments, a layup by Trey Dickerson, and two layups and a triple by Matt Mooney pushed South Dakota's lead to double-digits. The Cats never recovered.

The Bobcats held a 21-to-16 rebounding advantage at halftime, but ended up on the short end of a 33-to-32 total. The Cats have been out-rebounded in four of their last five games. Hall led MSU with six, while Flack had eight for the Coyotes. Each team committed 14 turnovers.

The loss spoiled another brilliant performance by Hall, who posted his fourth 30-point game this season and the sixth of his career. Harald Frey scored 10 points to join Hall in double-digits. Mooney (28) and Simpson (14) each logged career scoring highs for South Dakota.

The loss, MSU's fifth straight and second in 11 days to USD, drops the Bobcats to 5-7 on the season. South Dakota is 9-5. Montana State hosts Central Michigan on Wednesday at 7 pm.