VERMILLION, S.D. — South Dakota held off a pesky Sioux Falls team in a 73-64 victory Saturday night in exhibition action inside the Sanford Coyote Sports Center.­­­­
 
Tyler Hagedorn scored a game-high 15 points for the Coyotes while Triston Simpson and Matt Mooney each added 11 points. In his Coyote debut, Nick Fuller tallied 10 points off the bench.
 
South Dakota jumped out to an 8-2 lead in the opening minutes of the contest but the Cougars captured the lead with 12:52 remaining in the first half. Teathloach Pal sank a jumper to give USF an 11-10 lead, and built it to as many as five points at 19-14 with 9:33 on the clock in the half.
 
A 19-5 run by the Coyotes to close the half, including 14-straight points, boosted South Dakota to a 33-24 halftime advantage. South Dakota regained the lead on a jumper from Matt Mooney and was propelled by an old-fashioned 3-point play from Carlton Hurst within the run.
 
The second half saw the Coyotes jump out to a 13-point lead with 12:37 remaining on a Tyler Peterson jumper to make the score 48-35. Sioux Falls then chipped away at the deficit until pulling within six points at 51-45 with 9:40 remaining in the game on a pair of Zach Wessels free throws.
 
The Coyotes again extended the lead to double-digits, beginning with another Hurst 3-point play. This time he received a pass from Trey Burch-Manning and elevated to the rim for the dunk while being fouled. That began a 13-3 run for South Dakota, culminating with a Mooney trey for a 64-48 lead with 6:04 on the clock.
 
The cushion was enough to hold off a final Sioux Falls surge, as they again chipped away at the lead, but could not get within more than nine points, including the final score of 73-64.
 
Hurst nearly had a double-double with a game-high 10 rebounds and eight points on 3-of-5 shooting. Hagedorn tallied his 15 points on 6-of-7 shooting from the field while grabbing six rebounds. Mooney led South Dakota with three assists while three others tallied two assists.
 
Drew Guebert led Sioux Falls with 14 points while Pal and Trevon Evans had 12 and 11 points, respectively.
 
South Dakota held Sioux Falls to 18-of-51 shooting from the field for 35.3 percent including just 3-of-12 from long range.
 
The Coyotes open the regular season on Saturday, Nov. 11, against Mayville State. Tipoff is slated for 6 p.m. inside the Sanford Coyote Sports Center.