VERMILLION, S.D.—South Dakota senior Stanley Umude posted game highs of 27 points and 11 rebounds while A.J. Plitzuweit added 19 points as the Coyotes completed a sweep of Denver with a 79-57 win inside the Sanford Coyote Sports Center Sunday.
 
South Dakota (4-6) is 2-0 to begin Summit League play for the second time in four seasons while Denver (1-8) has lost eight in a row following a season-opening win against Division II Regis. The Coyotes travel to Kansas City (5-6) next week for two games against the Roos, who split two games at North Dakota this weekend.
 
Umude, who scored 17 points in Saturday's 93-54 win against Denver, was 10-of-14 from the field with four triples in game two en route to his third double-double of the season. Plitzuweit, coming off a career-high 31 in the series opener, added a game-high five assists and grabbed four rebounds Sunday.
 
Denver got 14 points from Sam Hines Jr., but the story once again was the Coyotes' defense on the Pioneers' preseason all-Summit guard Jace Townsend, who failed to score in double figures for the second straight game. Townsend entered the series averaging 20 points per game, but was 2-of-11 from the field and managed just eight points Sunday. Townsend totaled 15 points in the two games and Denver shot 32 percent from the field (35-of-107) for the series.


 
"Xavier is used to scoring the basketball being a JUCO all-American," Todd Lee said. "But he just guards and doesn't care about getting any shots up and did a really good job guarding one of the better guards in the league. He's a tough young man and his long arms can really bother shooters out there."
 
South Dakota led 12-1 less than four minutes into the game behind threes from Plitzuweit and Umude and a three-point play from Umude. Denver crawled within four points at 33-29 with five minutes left in the first half, but Umude totaled nine points during an 11-0 Coyote run to close out the frame. Umude buried a triple coming out of the break to make it 47-29 and the rout was on.
 
Umude totaled 18 in the first half while Plitzuweit netted 12. USD made 15-of-27 shots in the first half for 55 percent while holding Denver to 33 percent (8-for-24).
 
Tasos Kamateros had seven points and eight rebounds for South Dakota and Mason Archambault had four steals off the Coyote bench to go with seven points. USD made 8-of-23 from 3-point range after burying a season-high 14 3's in the opener.