HOLOLULU, Hawaii—South Dakota guards
Triston Simpson and
Stanley Umude scored 22 and 21 points, respectively, to lead the Coyotes to a road win over the Hawai'i Rainbow Warriors, 81-75, in front of a partisan crowd of more than 5,000 at the Stan Sheriff Center Sunday.
The victory moved the Coyotes to 2-0 while Hawai'i fell to 1-1. Both Simpson and Umude reached 20 points for the eighth time in their careers. Simpson, who made 8-of-11 from the field, finished two points shy of his career high.
South Dakota led nearly from start to finish. The Coyotes took a 35-27 advantage into the break and equaled their largest lead at 64-53 on two Umude free throws with 7:14 remaining.
Hawai'i, which shot 60 percent in the second half, drew within two at 72-70 on a Raimo Zigmars layup with 1:08 left. But South Dakota got a free throw from freshman
Hunter Goodrick and a block from
Tyler Peterson on the defensive end to protect its lead. Simpson (2),
Cody Kelley (4) and Goodrick (2) combined to make 8-of-8 free throws in the final 36 seconds.
"The maturity of our group showed tonight on the road," said USD head coach
Todd Lee. "Their crowd got loud, but we didn't turn it over, we hung in there and did a good job of running our offense and sticking with what we were trying to do.
"We told our guys that they were going to make a run. They're at home and they don't lose much in this building. I told our team in the locker room that different guys were going to have to step up and Tristan had 22 tonight.
Hunter Goodrick, I can't say enough about a freshman coming into this environment and getting 15 points and a bunch of rebounds. This is a big win and our guys are really excited."
It was South Dakota's 21-of-26 performance from the stripe in the second half that helped offset the Rainbows' hot shooting. Goodrick, who totaled three points in his collegiate debut Friday, scored 11 of his 15 points over the course of the final 15 minutes of the game. The Australia native was 4-of-8 from the field off the bench and matched Umude's game-high seven rebounds.
"It's probably the most people I've played in front of and a big difference from back home, but it's quite fun," said Goodrick.
Rainbow guard Eddie Stansberry, who made 2-of-13 shots in Friday's win against Florida A&M, got loose for 21 points in the second half Sunday after being held scoreless in the first. But South Dakota held Hawai'i's other two stars – point guard Drew Buggs and Raimo, the big man – to a combined 21 points on 7-of-22 from the field. Raimo missed his first six shots before netting his first field goal with 2:49 remaining in the second half.
"We did a good job on those two guys," said Lee. "Stansberry got away from us a little bit, but we told our guys what we needed to do to guard them, and for the most part, we did a good job. They made some unbelievable shots, but it's a home game for them in front of a big-time crowd and they stepped up and we knew they were going to make a run."
South Dakota completes play at the Rainbow Classic Monday at 8:30 p.m. (CST) against Florida A&M. The Rattlers (0-3) lost 65-52 to Hawai'i Friday and 76-54 to Pacific Sunday in their two games in Hololulu. It will be the first meeting between the two teams.
