Box Score

VERMILLION, S.D.—Fort Wayne senior big man Steve Forbes scored a game-high 21 points on 8 of 10 shooting to lead the Mastodons to a 66-55 win against South Dakota Thursday inside the DakotaDome.

Fort Wayne (10-11, 3-5 Summit) also got 14 points from Joe Edwards and 10 points from Max Landis to avenge a 64-62 loss to South Dakota at home back on Jan. 10. The Mastodons have won two in a row.

South Dakota (10-12, 4-4) got 14 points from James Hunter, but he was the only Coyote who scored in double figures. Brandon Bos had seven points. Casey Kasperbauer, Tyler Larson and Sekou Harris had six points each.

Fort Wayne closed the first half on a 13-2 run to take a 33-24 lead into halftime and seized control from there. The Coyotes came within seven points, 46-39, on an offensive rebound and put back by Hunter near the midway point of the second half. The Mastodons countered with six quick points and led by double digits the rest of the way.

Forbes, who is listed at 6-feet-9 and 295 pounds, scored 24 points in the first meeting between the two teams. In the two-game series, he made 19 of 23 shots and totaled 45 points. Fort Wayne shot 53 percent from the field (25 of 47) in this one compared to 40 percent shooting (24 of 60) by South Dakota.

Hunter's 14 points was one shy of his season high. He was 6 of 9 from the field and made two of his team's four free throws. The Coyotes made 3 of 19 three-pointers compared to 21 of 41 two-pointers.

The Coyotes played at home for the seventh time in 22 games this season. They return to the court Saturday as part of a doubleheader between South Dakota and Oral Roberts. The women tip off at 2 p.m. and the men follow at 4:30 p.m.