The South Dakota Coyotes defeated the Mount Marty Lancers 77-47 on Sunday at the Sanford Coyote Sports Centre in their yearly in-state “Mental Health Awareness” game.
From the outset, it was evident that the Lancers would face difficulties due to the combination of USD’s press pace and size. Isaac Bruns led the Coyotes with nine points at 7:26, when they had their biggest lead of 17. With four points, Jared Lopez was the Lancers’ top scorer.
USD shot 33 percent from three-point range and 37.9 percent from the field to lead MMU 40-22 at the end of the first half. Shey Eberwein and Cameron Fens both had six points, but Bruns still had nine, leading the Coyotes. Tash Lunday scored seven points and made five free throws for the Lancers in the first half.
“It was good to start finding my rhythm,” Eberwein explained. “It’s all about trusting the process and trusting our coaching staff.”
Just two minutes into the second half, South Dakota started to transform the match into a track meet and increased their fast break point total to 16. The Coyotes out-rebound the Lancers 31-21 with just over 11 minutes left, increasing their lead to 27. With his side shooting 41% in the last quarter, Eberwein scored 12 points off the bench.
Several players had more playing time than normal since South Dakota easily ended the game and never fell behind.
Lunday and Sutton Arend finished the game with seven points apiece for the Lancers, but the Coyotes held Mount Marty without a single player scoring in double figures.
Eberwein shot three for six from three-point range and finished with 15 points for USD. Both Dre Bullock and Isaac Bruns finished with ten or more points.
Next Saturday, the Lancers will face Northwestern to begin GPAC play after losing 3-2.
Collin Authier, the head coach of MMU, explained, “I’m very appreciative of Eric Peterson and doing this game for such a great cause,” “We did some good things, but we just have to value the basketball better and be more disciplined.”
USD moved to 3-0 and will play the Iowa Hawkeyes on the road in Iowa City on Tuesday.
