HONOLULU, Hawai’i (USD PR) — South Dakota got a combined 63 points from Tyler Hagedorn, Triston Simpson and Stanley Umude en route to an 85-82 win against Florida A&M Monday at the Stan Sheriff Center on the campus of the University of Hawai’i.
It was the third win in four days for the Coyotes who will bring home the Rainbow Classic championship trophy. South Dakota is 3-0 for the second time in four seasons. The Coyotes return to host Texas Southern at 7 p.m. Friday in their home opener inside the Sanford Coyote Sports Center.
South Dakota shot 59 percent from the field (26-of-44) and made 22-of-28 free throws to get past the Rattlers (0-4). Hagedorn was 8-of-10 from the field for a team-high 23 points. Triston Simpson made his first six shots from the field and was 4-for-4 from downtown for 22 points. Stanley Umude, despite playing just 21 minutes due to foul trouble, reached 18 points and had a game-high eight rebounds.
Florida A&M got a game-high 27 points from Rod Melton Jr. and 16 more from M.J. Randolph. The Rattlers grabbed 10 offensive rebounds and committed just seven turnovers, but their performance at the free-throw line was their undoing. FAMU made just 21 of 35 attempts.
“We played a very big Hawai’i team last night and gave up just two offensive rebounds,” said USD head coach Todd Lee. “This team ended up with 10 against us and turned it over just seven times and we turned it over 14 times. That’s 14 extra possessions in a game that you just can’t do.
“We had a big win last night and it was a quick turnaround, but our guys are disappointed in how they played. I felt exhausted. I don’t like coaching that way and our guys don’t like playing that way. But we won the game, and we need to learn lessons from our wins. It’s a lot better than learning lessons from losses.”
Umude, Simpson and Hagedorn averaged between 17-19 points each on the trip. South Dakota made 26-of-52 three-pointers in three games in Honolulu including an 11-for-17 performance Monday. USD’s top trio combined were a perfect 9-for-9 from beyond the arc against Florida A&M.
Simpson had 15 points during a first half in which both teams shot near 60 percent. Melton Jr. also had 15 in the opening stanza and the score was tied, 44-44, at the break.
Umude scored nine points during a 12-2 run near the start of the second half that provided some separation to the tune of a 60-50 advantage and the Rattlers played catchup the rest of the way.
Two free throws from Simpson gave USD its largest advantage at 69-55 with 13 minutes to go and the lead was still double digits with less than three to play.
After starting 22-of-24 from the stripe, South Dakota missed four free throws in the final 30 seconds to make it interesting. Melton Jr. scored to make it 85-80 with 27 seconds left, and after USD’s four misses, made it 85-82 with a bucket and was fouled with seven ticks to go. He missed the free throw and Bryce Moragne grabbed the board for FAMU. Without a timeout, Kamron Reaves took a long jumper that was partially deflected by Kruz Perrott-Hunt and time ran out on the Rattlers.
