VERMILLION, S.D. – When the South Dakota men's basketball team needed it most, Trey Burch-Manning and Matt Mooney answered the call, scoring the final 15 points for the Coyotes to push USD to a 75-73 victory Sunday afternoon over Eastern Washington.
 
The duo each tallied a game-high 19 points, which was a season-high for Burch-Manning. Nick Fuller added 11 points, the third time in four games that he reached double-digit scoring. Mooney tallied his 1,000^th-career point in the contest, combining his 199 points from Air Force and his now 816 points at USD.

South Dakota improves to 9-3 on the season, and a perfect 5-0 inside the Sanford Coyote Sports Center, while Eastern Washington falls to 3-7.
 
With USD leading 60-56 with just under five minutes on the clock, the Coyotes and Eagles traded point-for-point for the remainder of the game, beginning with a Trey Burch-Manning jumper in the paint. After the Eagles scored a layup, Burch-Manning immediately answered with a layup of his own for the 64-58 Coyote lead.
 
Eastern Washington reeled off four-straight points thanks to a jumper from Mason Peatling and a layup from Jesse Hunt, but it was Mooney who pushed the Coyote lead back to four points. The junior sank a pair of free throws with 2:37 on the clock to give USD a 68-64 lead.
 
South Dakota grabbed the defensive rebound off a missed Eagle 3-point attempt on the ensuing possession and pushed the lead back to six points on a jump shot from Mooney with 2:04 remaining.
 
The two squads traded long-range baskets, first a trey from the hands of Jack Perry for EWU, then a 3-pointer off the hands of Mooney. The junior took a handoff from Tyler Hagedorn and turned the corner, sinking the long-range shot with 1:32 showing on the clock.
 
Perry again answered Mooney with another 3-point basket but Mooney was able to get to the free throw line and hit a pair of free throws to push USD's lead to two possessions at five points with just 13 seconds remaining. Cody Benzel sank a 3-pointer with less than a second remaining for EWU to give the final score of 75-73.
 
South Dakota shot 54.9 percent from the field on 28-of-51 field goal attempts and hit 17-of-21 free throws. Eastern Washington shot 45.6 percent on 26-of-57 shooting.
 
Peatling led the Eagles with 19 points while Bogdan Bliznyuk, Burch-Manning's high school teammate, added 18 points.
 
South Dakota held the rebounding edge at 27-26 with Burch-Manning grabbing eight rebounds and Fuller with five. Hagedorn tallied a career-best four assists while Mooney tallied four steals.
 
South Dakota jumped out to a 13-point lead in the first half at 24-11 until Eastern Washington used a 9-0 run to climb back into the contest at 24-20 with 4:33 remaining in the half. The Coyotes entered halftime holding a 32-31 lead.
 
With the score tied at 36-all early in the second half, Hagedorn found a cutting Mooney for the layup and his 1,000^th collegiate point.
 
That sparked a 10-3 run for the Coyotes to open a seven-point lead at 46-39 and set the stage for the exciting finish.
 
South Dakota, winners of four of its last five games, begins a West Coast road trip with a game at Northern Arizona on Thursday with a 7:30 p.m. (CST) start. The contest precedes games at San Jose State and UCLA on Dec. 17 and Dec. 19, respectively.