VERMILLION, S.D. -- The eighth-ranked South Dakota men's basketball team (14-2, 3-2) picked up a hard-fought North Central Conference win Saturday night, topping Augustana, 70-68, in front of 3,437 fans at the DakotaDome. The victory was USD's fourth in five games against the Vikings.
Propelling the Coyotes to the win was junior forward Derek Paben, who converted on all eight of his attempts from the foul line during the final two minutes of the game.
USD fell behind by as many as 11 points in the first half, but put together a 13-4 run in the final five minutes of the opening frame, cutting the Augustana lead to 33-31 heading into the break.
Augustana held on to a slight advantage for much of the second half, eventually taking a five-point 62-57 lead with 5:23 to go. The Coyotes answered with five straight points from sophomore guard Josh Mueller, tying the game at 62-62 with 4:41 on the clock.
After a three-pointer from guard Rod Henry, the Vikings looked to be taking control of the game with 3:43 remaining when USD senior forward Tommie King fouled out. King, a native of Seattle, Wash., scored 21 points and grabbed five rebounds. It was the eighth consecutive game that King had scored at least 20 points.
Down four after Augie forward Justin Van Meeteren hit 1-of-2 from the charity stripe, USD Head Coach Dave Boots turned to Paben. The Pickrell, Neb., native got to the line three straight trips down the floor for the Coyotes, eventually tying the game up at 68-68 with his sixth-straight made free throw.
On the next trip down the floor for the Vikings, Van Meeteren, who scored 16 points and had nine rebounds, missed a shot from behind the three-point arc with 47 seconds on the clock. Sophomore guard Luke Tibbetts controlled the ball for the Coyotes with his fifth rebound of the night.
Still notched up at 68-68, South Dakota again dumped the ball into Paben, drawing the foul from Augie's Chris Harris. Paben knocked down both of his free throws to give USD a 70-68 advantage. The Vikings had one last shot, a three-pointer from the left corner by senior guard Cody Levinson, but it rattled out, preserving the win for the Coyotes.
Paben finished the game with 19 points and was 10-of-10 from the free throw line. One of the best free-throw shooters in NCAA Division II, he has converted 59-of-64 shots from the charity stripe this season (92.2 percent).
Also scoring in double figures for the Coyotes was Mueller, who had 18 points and six assists, and sophomore Zach Fortune, who added 10 points.
The Vikings were led in scoring by Henry, who had 21 points on 9-of-11 shooting.
As a team, South Dakota was 22-of-44 from the field (50.0 percent), while the Vikings made 26-of-53 shots from the floor (49.1 percent). At the foul line, the Coyotes knocked down 20-of-24 attempts (83.3 percent). Augie converted on just 8-of-14 attempts from the free-throw line. The Vikings narrowly won the rebound battle, 30-28. From the three-point line, USD hit 6-of-16 for 37.5 percent, while Augustana was just 8-of-27 for 29.6 percent.
The Coyotes return to the floor next Thursday when they travel to 21st-ranked Nebraska-Omaha. Tip-off is scheduled for 8 p.m.
