Box Score March 1, 2014
Box Score
BROOKINGS, S.D.--For the second time in three days, South Dakota dug itself a deep hole and never climbed out as South Dakota State came away with a 75-61 win at Frost Arena Saturday in the final regular season game for both teams.
All five Jackrabbit starters scored in double figures led by Jordan Dykstra's 19 points and 10 rebounds. Brayden Carlson added 15 points and Jake Bittle finished with 13 for SDSU (18-11, 10-4 Summit), which will take on IUPUI in the quarterfinal round of the upcoming Summit League Tournament in Sioux Falls.
South Dakota (12-17, 6-8) will be the No. 5 seed in the tournament and will take on fourth-seeded Denver in a 6 p.m. quarterfinal on Sunday, March 9 at Sioux Falls Arena. The teams split their regular season series with each team winning on its home court. The winner advances to the semifinals and will take on top-seeded North Dakota State at 6 p.m. the following night.
South Dakota trailed 16-3 less than seven minutes into this one, two days after falling behind 24-3 against North Dakota State. The Coyotes scored nine of the game's next 11 points to get within six at 18-12, but it was SDSU, behind 11 points from Dykstra, that took a 37-24 lead into halftime.
USD big man and leading scorer Trevor Gruis picked up two fouls in the game's first five minutes and did not play the rest of the first half. He took one shot in eight minutes of the second half and didn't register a point for the fifth time in 120 collegiate games.
With Gruis out of the lineup, the Jacks attacked the rim, scored 30 points in the paint and made 25 of 29 free throws.
Brandon Bos came off the bench to lead the Coyotes with 21 points. He was 12 of 13 from the free-throw line and finished two points shy of his career high. Tyler Flack had 16 points and five rebounds.
Outside of Bos and Flack, the Coyotes made 5 of 31 shots from the field. USD shot a season-low 28.8 percent as a team.
The good news is that it was the final true road game on the Coyotes' schedule and Sioux Falls is just an hour up interstate 29 from the USD campus. The Coyotes were night and day at home and on the road this season, finishing 10-3 at the DakotaDome and 2-13 on the road.
