VERMILLION, S.D. –
Brandon Armstrong scored a career-high 24 points as the South Dakota men's basketball team topped Peru State 98-55 in nonconference action Sunday afternoon inside the Sanford Coyote Sports Center.
Â
The Coyotes improve to 22-6 on the season, matching the most wins in a season for USD in the Division I era. Peru State, who is receiving votes in the NAIA national poll, played Sunday's game as an exhibition and remains 16-10 overall.
Â
A pesky Bobcat team tied the game at 32-all on a layup from LJ Westbrook with 5:42 remaining in the first half. Both offenses then stalled until
Trey Burch-Manning scored a layup with 2:05 left in the half and give USD a 34-32 lead that it would not relinquish.
Â
The layup sparked a 13-2 South Dakota run, aided by a pair of Armstrong 3-point baskets, to enter the intermission break with a 45-34 lead. The half ended for the Coyotes as
Tyler Hagedorn scored on an old-fashioned 3-point play with less than a second on the clock.
Â
With the Coyotes leading 54-36 and 15:26 remaining in the game, Armstrong sparked a 16-0 run to push the game out of the Bobcats' reach at 70-46.
Â
The sophomore scored on a layup while being fouled and sank his free throw to begin the run. After a Hagedorn free throw,
Nick Fuller scored five-straight points, which was followed by a pair of layups from
Joshua Doss. The 16-0 run concluded the same way it started, an old-fashioned 3-point play from Armstrong.
Â
South Dakota clamped down on the defensive end in the second half, holding PSU to just nine-made field goals in the half en route to the final score of 98-55. The 98 points are a season high for USD.
Â
After Armstrong's 24 points on 9-of-11 shooting, Hagedorn tallied 19 points for the Coyotes. South Dakota shot 58.5 percent from the field on 38-of-65 field goal attempts. Over their last two games, the Coyotes have shot a red-hot 59.6 percent from the field.
Â
Matt Mooney scored seven points and added six assists while Doss grabbed a team-best five rebounds.
Stanley Umude came off the bench for nine points in eight minutes of action.
Â
Westbrook tallied a team-high 15 points for Peru State who shot 33.9 percent from the field for the game. Westbrook and Dominique Bell each grabbed a team-best six rebounds.
Â
South Dakota forced 19 Bobcat turnovers and turned those into 32 points. The Coyotes also dominated the painted area with 52 points compared to just 26 from PSU.
Â
The Coyotes now travel to Oral Roberts for a Valentine's Day contest at 7 p.m. Wednesday. South Dakota plays its final home game of the season Saturday at 3:30 p.m. against Omaha.
Â