ST. PAUL, Minn. — South Dakota basketball saw two players make their Coyote debuts but the Yotes would fall 99-86 to St. Thomas in Lee & Penny Anderson Arena.
Trent Hudgens and Silas Bennion saw action for the first time as Coyotes in the contest. Hudgens made a splash in the second half, as he poured 17 points on 5-of-7 shooting and had three assists. Bennion tallied his first bucket as a Coyote in the first half with a 3-pointer and finished with five points.
Isaac Bruns had a team-high 24 points with a pair of 3-pointers and six rebounds. Cameron Fens pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds (six offensive) and scored eight points.
South Dakota connected on 12-of-23 attempts from deep and shot 49.2% from the floor, but the Tommies, led by Isaiah Johnson-Arigu’s 25 points on 10-of-13 shooting, shot 62.6% and knocked down nine triples. St. Thomas scored over half (54) of their points in the paint and received 44 points from their bench unit.
The Tommies’ offense was in a groove from the jump, as they shot 20-of-30 from the field and tallied 17 assists in the opening 20 minutes with five 3-pointers. The Yotes knocked down six triples in the opening half, with Uzziah Buntyn knocking down a pair. Isaac Bruns paced USD with 12 points, while Johnson-Arigu had 17 for St. Thomas. The Tommies built an early 10-point advantage with a 13-0 run to go up 15-5 five minutes in. A pair of treys from Jordan Crawford and Ethan Kizer cut it back to a single-digit deficit but St. Thomas would hold a double-digit lead for a majority of the first half and went into the intermission with a 55-31 advantage.
The Yotes cut the UST lead to 13, 85-72, with five minutes to go in the second half but the Tommies controlled the final 20 minutes by holding a double-digit lead throughout. South Dakota outscored the Tommies 55-46 in the second half behind a combined 39 points from Hudgens, Bruns and Ethan Kizer but UST’s offense didn’t slow down as they shot 58.6% in the half to secure a 99-86 win.
The Coyotes return to the Sanford Coyote Sports Center Saturday to host Denver at 1 p.m. for their Salute to Service game.
Notes
- South Dakota falls to 8-9 on the season
- Isaac Bruns poured in his ninth 20+ point game of the season
- Trent Hudgens and Silas Bennion made their Coyote debuts tonight
- Hudgens was second on the team in scoring with 17 points
- Cameron Fens recorded double-digit rebounds for the fourth time this season
- The Yotes connected on 10+ 3-pointers for the first time since November 20 against Missouri
- Ethan Kizer set a new career high with four 3-pointers on the night