South Dakota State men's basketball routs Coyotes in coach Eric Peterson's return
VERMILLION – After a seven-game injury absence, South Dakota coach Eric Peterson was back on the sidelines for the Coyotes Saturday night in their rivalry game against South Dakota State.
It didn’t go well for the first-year coach, but at least he’s back and the Coyotes can move forward knowing their coach is healthy and ready to lead them again after hurting himself in a fall in his home in early December.
And for the Jackrabbits, Saturday night’s win completed a pretty incredible week for South Dakota State athletics. A national championship in football on Sunday followed by a Saturday hoops sweep, with the SDSU women routing USD in Brookings, and the men earning their fifth straight win over their rivals.
The Jackrabbits used a 16-0 run in the first half to take control, then kept a firm grip on the proceedings in the second on their way to an 82-64 win in front of 4,605 fans at Sanford Coyote Sports Center. It was USD’s first conference home loss in three tries this season. The Jackrabbits have now won 20 of the 28 meetings of the Division I era.
More:South Dakota State women's basketball hits program-best 17 3's in 118-59 win over South Dakota
Matt Dentlinger had 26 points on 11 shots, going 10-of-11 from the floor, 6-for-6 at the line and adding eight rebounds. Zeke Mayo had 19 points, eight boards and six assists, while Matt Mims had 13 points and Alex Arians and Matthew Mors 10 apiece.
While any conference road win is a good one, especially against an in-state rival, SDSU (9-9, 4-2 Summit League) got more than just a ‘W’ out of this one. For maybe the first time all year they started to resemble the team that won 30 games and went 21-0 in league play last year. That is, they played fast and free on offense and, after a dreadful start at least, took over the game with the 3-ball.
“I don’t even think it was our offense tonight,” Mayo said. “When your defense plays like that your offense gets going. We were getting a lot of buckets in transition which is big for us.”
SDSU finished a mere 8-of-31 from 3-point range, but that was after they missed 16 of their first 18. They did their first-half damage by getting the ball inside and controlling the boards, and in the second, as USD (8-10, 3-3) tried to work the deficit back to single-digits, the Jacks warmed up from outside.
“We played with a better pace offensively,” said Jacks coach Eric Henderson. “We were 2-for-18 from the arc but I did like the shots we were taking. I liked the way we moved it better. They got it back to eight and we were able to stretch it back to 14 before half which was really important, to win those last four minutes of the first half.”
Three straight trifectas early in the second half gave SDSU a 21-point advantage at 56-35, and a 3-point play from Mors moments later gave the Jacks their biggest lead at 24.
“We were doubling in the post and when they’d throw it out we were just flying out there like they were gonna shoot it, and they’d drive right past us into the paint,” Peterson said. “When you’re giving up blow-bys over and over again it’s really tough to guard a team. They’re too good of a team for us to do that.”
Added guard Paul Bruns, who had 16 points to lead the Coyotes: “They’re a really good team and they can score in a lot of different ways. We just have to be better, work together as a team and get stops.”
USD didn’t quit, but they couldn’t get back in the game, either. The Jacks’ efficiency took care of that. Just one example: A.J. Plitzuweit hit a 3 for the Coyotes to pull them within 15. On the next trip down, SDSU double-teamed Detlinger, who was killing them by then. The Jacks threw it into him anyway, he kicked it out to Mayo after getting doubled, and when Mayo drove the lane both defenders chased him, only for Mayo to dump it back to Dentlinger for an easy two.
The Jacks held USD to 37.5 percent shooting, and rebounding was key. SDSU had a 39-27 edge on the glass, which led to them outscoring the Coyotes 16-4 in second chance points. They also outscored them 34-24 in the paint.
“We missed box outs and they got a bunch of second chance points,” said Mason Archambault, who, along with Plitzuweit and Kruz Perrott-Hunt had 10 points. “That separated them from us during that (first half) run.”
Peterson and Archambault both said starting the second half strong was the key talking point at halftime, but it was SDSU that ended up doing that. Leading 39-25 at the break, they quickly scored the first two buckets of the half to make it an 18-point lead.
“You want to be the aggressor to start the second half and it’s not a good feeling when you’re not,” Peterson said.
Peterson commented after the game that SDSU is a better team than their record, and their encouraging start to league play would suggest he’s right. SDSU was blasted in their conference opener, but have since won four of five, and have a pair of home games coming up this week (Omaha on Thursday and Denver on Saturday afternoon) that will give them a chance to keep building momentum.
“We’re starting to feel better,” Dentlinger said. “We still have a lot of room to grow, but we’re gonna keep working hard. We know we still can be a lot better and that we have to be.”
This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: South Dakota State routs USD Coyotes in coach Eric Peterson's return
