Box Score Feb. 5, 2015
Box Score |
VERMILLION, S.D.—Tre Burnette scored 19 points, Brandon Bos had 18 points and Tyler Larson scored 16 second-half points to lead South Dakota to a 75-61 win against Western Illinois Thursday night inside the DakotaDome.
The win ends a three-game skid for the Coyotes (11-13, 5-5 Summit), who drew even in Summit League play and into fourth place in the standings. South Dakota swept the season series from Western Illinois (8-13, 3-7) for the first time in four tries.
South Dakota scored 14 of the game's first 16 points, but gave the lead back and led 35-34 at halftime. The Coyotes scored the first 14 points of the second half and gave little ground the rest of the way.
Burnette entered with a 6.5 points per game average, but had 10 points to lead all scorers in the first half. He added seven points during the 14-0 burst at the start of the second. He made 8 of 14 shots including two triples and had a game-high seven rebounds. He finished five points shy of his season high.
Bos reached 18 points for the 10th time this season. He was 7 of 12 from the field and had five assists, four boards and two steals.
Bos and Larson combined to score the same amount of points as Western in the second half. Larson was 6 of 9 in the stanza including two 3-pointers. Larson handed out a career-best seven assists Thursday and also had six rebounds.
J.C. Fuller led the Leathernecks with 18 points on 8 of 15 shooting. He had 23 points in the first game of the series, a 68-58 Coyote win in Macomb back on Jan. 22. Garret Covington hit four triples and scored 14 points. Jamie Batish came off the bench to score 13 points.
Western Illinois erased the early deficit and took a 24-23 lead on a layup by Mohamed Conde with seven minutes to play in the first half. Conde scored all six of his points in the first and finished with six rebounds.
South Dakota made its first five shots out of the break including back-to-back three's from Burnette and Larson. The Coyotes shot 49 percent from the field (30 of 61), their best shooting performance in 10 games.
Batish's third 3 brought the Leathernecks within nine points at 54-45 at the 12:22 mark. Bos countered with a shot in the paint, Larson made one of two from the line, and then buried a 3-pointer on the next possession to push the lead back to 15 points. The Coyotes led by double digits the rest of the way.
South Dakota starts its final road trip of the season Saturday in Fargo against first-place North Dakota State (16-7, 8-2). The Coyotes beat NDSU 71-67 at home back on Jan. 14. The Bison have won 22 consecutive games on their home court.
South Dakota also travels to Omaha (Feb. 12) and Oral Roberts (Feb. 14) next week before wrapping up the regular season with four games inside the DakotaDome.
