University of South Dakota Athletics

VERMILLION, S.D. — South Dakota scored 46 points in the paint and a shot 48.5 percent from the field, en route to an 87-59 victory over Mayville State in the season opener inside the Sanford Coyote Sports Center Saturday night.
 
It was a balanced scoring attack, with four Coyotes in double figures and another three within three points of hitting double-digits. Matt Mooney totaled 13 points in 23 minutes of action while Tyler Hagedorn and Tyler Peterson each tallied 11 points. Brandon Armstrong scored 10 points off the Coyotes bench.
 
South Dakota (1-0) jumped out to an 8-0 lead in the opening minutes of the contest and held a lead of 11 points at halftime with a score of 42-31. Mooney hit a pull-up jumper with the clock winding down to end the half with a team-high 11 points.
 
"We had a good start and a good end to the first half," head coach Craig Smith said. "We gained some momentum and then Mooney hit the pull-up to put us up 11 at halftime. We made a few minor adjustments at the half that I thought helped us. I thought we defended well, and didn't foul.
 
"In the second half we defended just as well and we were a lot better on offense and really shared the ball."
 
Coming out of the intermission, Mayville State (1-2) was able to cut the deficit to just eight points at 51-43, and then it was all Coyotes.
 
Using an 18-4 run, South Dakota built a 69-47 lead that started with a pair of free throws from Dan Jech. Within the run, Triston Simpson utilized an old-fashioned 3-point play to make the score 67-47 with 9:57 on the clock. Joshua Doss closed the run with a breakaway dunk after grabbing a steal at midcourt.
 
South Dakota tallied 15 assists on the night, led by Carlton Hurst, Triston Simpson and Mooney all with three. Logan Power had two assists while four others each had one assist.
 
"The first half we tried to make a lot of one-on-one moves instead of swinging the ball, getting a reversal and trusting each other," Smith said. "When we did that in the first half we scored. In the second half, I really thought we settled in."
 
South Dakota went 33-of-68 from the field for a shooting percentage of 48.5 percent and sank eight long-range shots. The Comets went 22-of-72 from the field for 30.6 percent and hit 10-of-29 treys.
 
The Coyotes dominated the boards, outrebounding MSU 53-36, led by a game-high eight rebounds from Trey Burch-Manning.
 
Daniel Lindgren led Mayville State with 18 points while Gonzalo Munez totaled eight rebounds.
 
South Dakota travels to Bowling Green on Monday for a 6 p.m. (CST) tip, followed by a trip to TCU on Wednesday.