SIOUX FALLS, S.D.—Stanley Umude scored a game-high 24 points and Xavier Fuller added 20 points and a career-high 10 rebounds to lead second-seeded South Dakota to an 86-69 win against seventh-seeded Western Illinois in a quarterfinal game at The Summit League Tournament held at the Sanford Pentagon Saturday.
 
South Dakota improved to 14-10 on the season and defeated Western Illinois for the third time in three tries. The Coyotes advance to Monday night's semifinal where they will face the winner of Sunday night's matchup between third-seeded North Dakota State and sixth-seeded Kansas City. The tip of that semifinal game will be 8:45 p.m.
 
In addition to Umude and Fuller, South Dakota got 17 points and nine rebounds from Tasos Kamateros and 12 points and seven assists from Kruz Perrott-Hunt. The Coyotes shot 55 percent from the field (29-of-52) and made 20-of-28 from the stripe to earn the lopsided victory.
 
Colton Sandage's 16 points led four Western Illinois players who scored in double figures. The Leathernecks (7-15) also got 13 from Anthony Jones, 12 from Will Carius and 11 from Ramean Hinton. Western Illinois trailed 43-30 at the break and got no closer than seven points in the second half.
 
It was the first Summit League Tournament win for USD's Todd Lee, the Summit League Coach of the Year. His team held Western Illinois to 36 percent shooting (22-of-60) in the victory.
 
"I thought all five guys in the starting group did a really good job," said Lee. "To have somebody else step up and score points – Tasos did a good job, and Xavier did a good job. When Xavier is shooting the ball, he's tough to guard and he's a very good free-throw shooter.
 
"We definitely need points after losing A.J. (Plitzuweit) and it's good to have balance."
 
It was Kamateros (11 points) and Perrott-Hunt (nine) who combined for 20 points in the first half on 8-of-11 shooting from the field to push USD to its lead. Hinton made a 3-pointer on the first possession of the game, but South Dakota scored 14 unanswered to set the tone. Kamateros had half of those points during the run.
 
"We had a week to prepare and I think that really helped us," said Lee. "Western Illinois is a very athletic team, a quick team. But we took care of the basketball tonight and guarded well. We led the league in field goal percentage defense and that's where we won games this year."
 
The Leathernecks' best run came early in the second half when they scored seven unanswered capped by a 3 from Carius to make it 45-38 just two minutes in. But Umude fired back with one of his two triples and then Hunt had a nice assist to Kamateros for two more to stop the momentum.
 
Umude had 17 points in the second half on 6-of-11 from the field. Fuller had 15 points past halftime, 10 of which came from the free-throw line. The two teams combined to shoot 50 free throws.
 
Fuller logged his first double-double of the season and Umude was two rebounds shy of getting his sixth. Kamateros was one carom shy of his second career double-double. Both Kamateros and Umude handed out five assists each. Western Illinois had no assists in the first half and had just four during the game.