VERMILLION, S.D.—UC Irvine kept scoring out of the halftime break while South Dakota slowed down and that was the difference in an 83-71 road win for the Anteaters Saturday inside the Sanford Coyote Sports Center.
It was the second meeting between the two programs and first since the season opener of the 1974-75 season. South Dakota played without coach
Eric Peterson on its sidelines. He was injured in a fall earlier this week, so assistant
Patrick Eberhart served as bench coach.
UC Irvine got 17 points from DJ Davis, 16 from Dawson Baker and 14 from Justin Hohn, the local kid who played his high school ball just up Interstate 29 at Tea High School. The Anteaters stopped a two-game skid and improved to 7-3 on the season.
South Dakota got a season-high 20 points off its bench from
Paul Bruns on 8-of-14 shooting but fell to 5-6 on the year.
Tasos Kamateros had 12 points and nine rebounds.
Kruz Perrott-Hunt and
Mason Archambault chipped in eight points apiece.
UC Irvine led 37-35 at the half, and though Kamateros scored the first points of the second half to tie the game, the Anteaters pulled away. The Coyotes made just five field goals and had five turnovers in the second half up until there were three minutes to play. By then, the score read 73-52. South Dakota made its final six shots including five 3-pointers, but it was too little, too late.
Baker and Hohn were 12-of-17 from the field for UC Irvine and the Anteaters shot 51 percent from the field as a team. The Coyotes were solid defensively against Davis, UC Irvine's top scorer entering play. He was 4-of-14 from the field. Three of his four hits were 3-pointers and Davis was able to go 6-of-6 from the free-throw line to reach 17 points.
Bruns had 13 points during an entertaining and back-and-forth first half. Perrott-Hunt had it going early, scoring eight of the Coyotes' first 11 points out of the gate, but couldn't sustain the effort. Credit the Anteaters who were allowing just 62 points per game entering play for buckling down defensively in the second half.
South Dakota has one more non-conference game left before diving into Summit League play. The Coyotes get a rematch with Coastal Carolina Wednesday as part of a USD women and men doubleheader. The Chanticleers beat the Coyotes 66-59 in South Carolina back on Nov. 26. The two teams tip off at 8 p.m. Wednesday.
