VERMILLION, S.D.—Omaha made an adjustment on its offensive end, but South Dakota point guard
A.J. Plitzuweit made a better one, scoring a career-high 37 points and adding eight assists in a highly-entertaining 97-93 win Saturday inside the Sanford Coyote Sports Center.
The Coyotes (10-6, 8-0 Summit) are 8-0 to start conference play for the first time since the 1999-2000 season. They've won nine in a row dating back to late December, the program's longest streak in 11 seasons. It's the second season in a row South Dakota has swept its series with Omaha. It also sets a new conference win streak of eight straight conference wins which bests last years' seven game win streak in conference play.
"Find a way, that's been our motto this win streak," head coach
Todd Lee said. "It's not always going to be pretty and we will have some close games but we just need to find a way every night. Tonight we found a way to win knowing it would be a completely different game than it was last night."
It sets up a showdown in Brookings next weekend with preseason Summit League favorite South Dakota State, the only other unbeaten team in the league at 4-0. Every other team has at least two losses at the midpoint of the Summit slate.
Plitzuweit was coming off an eight-point outing Friday in a game the Coyotes won by 32. He was on from start to finish in this one, making 14 of 23 from the field, including 5 of 10 from downtown, and setting up his teammates for open looks. Five of his season-high eight dimes were on 3-point buckets and USD made 12 of 24 from beyond the arc. USD is now 1-of-2 schools to have two different players score 37 or more points in a Division I game this season.
"My team did a great job at finding me in spots where my shot felt good," Plitzuweit said. "Pre-game my shot felt good and I knew I had to be more aggressive and I was able to get into a good rhythm tonight."
Stanley Umude backed up a 32-point performance Friday with 24 points, eight boards and five assists in this one. He was 10 of 15 from the field. South Dakota shot a season-best 60.7 percent overall (37 of 61).
"It was crazy and exciting," Umude said about Plitzuweit's career-night. "We know he is capable of this and to get eight assists with it it's crazy."
And the Coyotes needed it to counter Omaha's offense. La'Mel Robinson (23) and Marlon Ruffin (19) combined to score 42 points on 17 of 26 shooting. The Mavericks (2-14, 0-6) also got 16 points and a game-high 13 rebounds from Matt Pile on 7 of 11 from the floor. Omaha shot 57.1 percent one night after shooting 36.5 percent.
South Dakota led 26-14 after a
Mason Archambault triple nine minutes into the game. Plitzuweit had 13 by that point. But a 21-4 run led by Robinson and Ruffin gave Omaha its largest lead of the game, 45-37, with 44 seconds before halftime.
Xavier Fuller hit a 3 on the Yotes' final possession to make it 45-40 at the break.
It was a flopping call against Plitzuweit on a 3-pointer that didn't reach the rim early in the second half that got the home crowd and the home bench fired up. It came 92 seconds into play with the Mavs up 51-44. Four minutes later, it was tied at 55-55 on a jumper by Plitzuweit. A 12-0 run starting at the 10-minute mark put USD ahead 79-67.
The Coyotes used a 2-3 zone to slow the Mavericks during the rally and got solid contributions from Fuller, who made all five shots he took and scored 15 points, and
Nikola Zizic, who got extended minutes after
Tasos Kamateros picked up his fourth foul early in the stanza. Zizic equaled his season-high of six points. He also had four offensive rebounds that led to two free throw attempts, a putback, an Umude dunk and a Plitzuweit 3. Zizic had six boards in all.
South Dakota led 88-80 after a
Kruz Perrott-Hunt breakaway layup with 2:35 left, but a Matt Pile block led to a transition 3 by Nick Ferrarini that made it 90-88 with 1:14 to go.
Omaha forced a turnover on the ensuing possession, but Ruffin couldn't finish a layup and Perrott-Hunt was fouled. He made 1 of 2 with 34 seconds left to make it 91-88.
Ayo Akonwole stepped on the baseline on a drive to the hoop on the Mavericks' next possession and Plitzuweit and Fuller made free throws to seal the win.
