KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Freshman Jayson Petty scored a game-high and career-high 21 points to help Kansas City (9-13, 3-4) defeat South Dakota 81-57 inside Swinney Center Saturday night.
Petty was one of four Roos to score in double-figures while shooting 83.3 percent from three-point range with five triples on six attempts. He went 8-of-11 from the field and grabbed five rebounds in just under 32 minutes of action. Petty had already matched his previous career-high of 10 points midway through the first half.
Lahat Thioune recorded his fourth 20-point game for South Dakota (9-13, 2-5 Summit) and was one rebound shy of a double-double. Thioune went 10-14 from the floor and grabbed nine rebounds. Kaleb Stewart was the only other Coyote to reach double-digit scoring with 14 points. Stewart shot 27 percent from the field and went 7-of-8 at the free throw line.
Kansas City started the game with leading scorer Jamar Brown knocking down a three on the first possession, followed by Petty’s first points of the game in the lane. The Roos quickly extended a 5-0 lead to a 10-2 lead with five more points from Petty, giving him 7 of Kansas City’s first 10 points. Kansas City took its first double-digit lead of the game at 21-11 off a Yuilian Ramirez-Montero triple with 10 minutes to play in the first half. Kansas City held South Dakota to just two points over the last four minutes of the first half and used a 12-2 run to take a 41-25 lead into the break.
The Roos took the first half lead and capitalized through the second half, holding a double-digit lead through the rest of the game. A fast-break driving layup from Bostyn Holt cut the lead to 13 with just under 12 minutes to play, but the Roos responded with back-to-back three pointers to extend the lead back to 19. Kansas City led by as many at 28 late in the second half and held the lead for the entire game.
Kansas City knocked down 11 triples and shot 45.8 percent from behind the arc. The Roos shot 51.8 percent from the field and had 31 points off its bench. Kansas City, which leads the league in turnovers forced per game, scored 18 points off 14 South Dakota turnovers. Both teams grabbed 33 rebounds, but the Coyotes outscored the Roos in the paint 34-28.
South Dakota returns home to host North Dakota on Feb. 1 inside the Sanford Coyote Sports Center.