Fargo, N.D. – A 3-point basket from Tyler Peterson with 20 seconds remaining helped seal a 76-72 South Dakota men's basketball victory at North Dakota State Saturday afternoon.
 
With the Coyotes leading by two points, Matt Mooney turned the corner into the lane and saw Peterson wide open for the trey to stretch the Coyotes' lead to five points at 73-68.

Matt Mooney dishes to Tyler Peterson for the 3-point basket late in the game! #GoYotes pic.twitter.com/kWgf6jpWgd

— Coyote Basketball (@SDCoyotesMBB) February 3, 2018

 
"That was a winning play," South Dakota head coach Craig Smith said. "I give a lot of credit to Matt Mooney. Everybody in the gym knows who is getting the ball. The defense collapsed on him and he kicked it out to Peterson who drained the shot."
 
South Dakota then held off the Bison, making 3-out-of-4 free throws sandwiched around layups from Paul Miller and Tyson Ward of NDSU.
 
The Coyotes improve to 20-6 overall to clinch its second-straight 20-win season and are 8-2 in the Summit League. North Dakota State falls to 12-12 overall and 4-5 in league play.
 
Mooney led the Coyotes with 21 points while Triston Simpson and Nick Fuller each added 13 points. Peterson ended with 12 points including nine second-half points.
 
The Coyotes used a 14-2 run late in the first half to enter halftime with a 20-point advantage. The run began with a free throw from Trey Burch-Manning and off an offensive rebound continued with a jumper from Simpson. The run ended on an old-fashioned 3-point play from Fuller to give South Dakota a 37-19 lead with 1:57 remaining in the half.

Trey Burch-Manning gets the steal and the layup for the Coyotes. #GoYotes pic.twitter.com/cYnywujsuw

— Coyote Basketball (@SDCoyotesMBB) February 3, 2018

 
South Dakota then entered the intermission leading 44-24.
 
The Bison cut the Coyotes' lead to 10 points with 12:31 reaming in the game on a pair of Deng Geu free throws. However, Fuller sank a pair of shots from the charity stripe and another jumper from Simpson pushed the lead back to 14 points at 56-42 with 10:29 remaining in the game.
 
North Dakota State kept chipping away at South Dakota's lead and had its deficit down to two points until Peterson's trey swung the momentum late in the game en route to the 76-72 victory.
 
South Dakota overcame a 38.8 percent shooting performance with 15 steals, leading to 18 points off turnovers. Burch-Manning tallied a career-best six steals and tallied a team-high seven rebounds.

Here is that sixth steal from Trey Burch-Manning, leading to a 3-point basket off the hands of Matt Mooney! #GoYotes pic.twitter.com/9nbU9XiLPk

— Coyote Basketball (@SDCoyotesMBB) February 3, 2018

 
Paul Miller led North Dakota State with 26 points as Ward had a double-double of 11 points and 11 rebounds. The Bison shot 52.9 percent from the field on 27-of-51 field goal attempts.
 
The victory seals a winning season for the Coyotes away from the Sanford Coyote Sports Center for just the second time in the Division I era. South Dakota is 8-4 in true road games with two games remaining away from its home floor. South Dakota also claimed victory on the home floor of the Bison for the second-straight season.  
 
The Coyotes return to the Sanford Coyote Sports Center Thursday, hosting Fort Wayne. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m. South Dakota topped the Mastodons 68-58 on Jan. 11. The game is #LOVErmillion Day with fans showing a Clay County ID getting receiving half-price tickets.