VERMILLION, S.D. – For just the second time in two seasons, the South Dakota men's basketball team suffered defeat on its home floor in an 84-79 setback to North Dakota State Saturday afternoon inside the Sanford Coyote Sports Center.
 
Both losses inside the building have been to the Bison, who improve to 9-7 overall and 1-1 in Summit League action behind 35 points from redshirt freshman Cameron Hunter and 24 from senior Paul Miller. The Coyotes fall to 14-5 overall and 2-1 in league action.
 
Matt Mooney helped USD jump out to a 15-3 lead, including a 12-0 run in the opening minutes of the game as the junior made three 3-point baskets along with two-point shots from Tyler Peterson, Trey Burch-Manning and Tyler Hagedorn.
 
North Dakota State fought back into the game and took a 29-28 lead with 5:04 remaining in the first half, as part of its own 12-0 run. The run concluded with a trey from Chris Quayle to give NDSU a 35-28 lead with 3:59 remaining in the first half. The Bison would enter halftime with a 44-33 advantage.
 
"We got off to a great start," head coach Craig Smith said. "Those first 15 points came pretty easy on 6-of-7 shots. Then they outscored us 41-18 over the last 15 minutes. I felt like we got undisciplined.
 
"We played a lot better in the second half. I thought we were effective with our press and really got going offensively."
 
Trailing by 13 points at 67-54 with 9:10 remaining in the game, the Coyotes embarked on an 18-4 run to take their first lead of the second half.
 
The run began with a Burch-Manning old-fashioned three-point play as Triston Simpson passed the ball under the basket for the layup and foul. The Coyotes' defense picked up its intensity within the run and forced several Bison turnovers including a steal by Burch-Manning who pitched ahead to Tyler Peterson for a fast-break layup to pull the Coyotes within two points at 71-69.
 
On the ensuing NDSU possession and the Sanford Coyote Sports Center crowd on its feet, Mooney swiped his game-high fourth steal. He then sank his fifth trey of the game to give USD a 72-71 lead with 5:07 on the clock.
 
The lead then bounced between each squad five times before NDSU grabbed a 77-76 lead on a layup from Spencer Eliason with 2:11 remaining in the game. After the Coyotes were unable to convert on their next two possessions, North Dakota State opened enough of a cushion to claim the 84-79 victory.
 
Mooney scored a team-high 23 points while Burch-Manning and Peterson each added 15 points. The Coyotes shot 26-of-60 from the field for 43.3 percent while making nine long-range baskets. Entering the game shooting the third-most free throws in the nation, the Coyotes went 18-of-24 for 75 percent from the charity stripe.
 
Hunter and Miller were the only two in double figures for the Bison who shot 28-of-53 from the field for 52.8 percent. North Dakota State held a slight edge in rebounds at 34-30, led by Deng Geu and Miller with six each.
 
Hagedorn tallied eight points and eight rebounds while Burch-Manning also had eight boards for South Dakota.
 
Peterson made his second start of the season after the Coyotes had to play without Carlton Hurst, who is out with a hand injury.
 
South Dakota travels to Fort Wayne, Indiana, for a Thursday contest with the Mastodons. Tip-off is slated for 6 p.m. (CST). The Coyotes went 2-0 with Fort Wayne last season including a 93-82 victory on the Mastodons home floor.