OMAHA, Neb. — The South Dakota basketball team nearly completed a double-digit comeback over the Omaha Mavericks for the second time this season but fell short in a 93-85 defeat to the Mavs.
Chase Forte scored a team high 25 points on 9-of-15 shooting and had a pair of triples, his second straight game with multiple treys. Dre Bullock added 19 points on 7-of-13 shooting and grabbed a team-high seven rebounds.
The Mavericks won the rebounding battle (44-35), grabbed 14 offensive rebounds and scored 50 of their 93 points in the paint.
It was a slot start offensively with the Mavs holding an 11-7 lead five minutes into the contest. Omaha used a 15-3 run over the next six minutes to take a 26-10 lead, and would eventually push it to 17, its largest lead of the half. A pair of free throws from Max Burchill cut the deficit to nine heading into the halftime break.
Omaha opened the second half with a 17-5 run to extend its lead to what would be the largest of the night, 61-40. Similar to the matchup at the Sanford Coyote Sports Center on January 29, the Yotes began to mount a comeback effort with a 14-4 run over a four-minute stretch to cut the deficit to 85-81 with 2:25 left. Marquel Sutton answered for the Mavs on the next possession, and the closest the Yotes would come to the Omaha lead was five the rest of the way.
South Dakota heads up to Fargo, North Dakota on Wednesday night for a meeting with North Dakota State at 7:00 p.m.
Notes
- South Dakota drops to 17-12 on the season and 8-6 in Summit League play
- The Yotes and Mavs split the regular season series with each team picking up a win on their home floor
- Chase Forte has scored 25+ points in each of the last two games
- Dre Bullock has scored in double-figures in each of the last four games
- Forte and Kaleb Stewart each had two steals
- Omaha outrebounded the Yotes 44-35 and had 14 offensive boards