GRAND FORKS, N.D. – Balanced scoring from South Dakota gave the team an 82-68 win over North Dakota on Saturday afternoon inside Betty Engelstad Arena.
It was the ninth win in 10 games for USD (18-8, 8-3 Summit). The Coyotes did something only one other team has done this season, win inside Betty Engelstad Arena. Omaha was the only other team to defeat the Fighting Hawks at home this season.
The win extends South Dakota’s win streak to seven games and its series streak with UND to three straight wins. The Yotes dominated the paint with 40 points compared to North Dakota’s 24.
Tyler Hagedorn led the way for the Coyotes with 15 points on 4-of-7 shooting. The senior extends his streak of at least one made 3-pointer to 13 games. Stanley Umude, Triston Simpson and Tyler Peterson all finished with 13 points for the Yotes. Hagedorn also became the 22nd Coyote to record 1,000 points and 500 rebounds in a career after recording seven rebounds in the win.
South Dakota has now won three straight road games after dropping its first two in the conference season. USD stays in third place in the League standings and owns the longest win streak in the conference.
North Dakota (11-14, 5-6) was led by Marlon Stewart with 23 points on 9-of-18 shooting from the field. De’Sean Allen-Eikens recorded 18 points and Kienan Walter finished with 10 points to round out the double-figure scoring for UND.
The largest lead either team had in the first 15 minutes of the first half was four when Hagedorn made a layup with 4:17 left to give the Yotes a 30-26 lead. The Coyotes ended the half on an 18-8 run over the final eight minutes of the first half to take a 41-34 lead into the break.
In the second half, the Fighting Hawks cut the lead to four with 9:37 left forcing a timeout from South Dakota head coach Todd Lee. South Dakota responded with a 12-0 run that included back-to-back 3-pointers from Hagedorn and Simpson to quiet the crowd.
North Dakota wasn’t able to get the lead down to single digits as the closest it would get would be 14 points after Stewart made a jumper with 11 seconds left to give the game its final score at 82-68.
South Dakota shot 49 percent from the field and connected on 22-of-25 from the line for 88 percent. The Yotes got 19 points from the bench and 19 points off 20 UND turnovers.
North Dakota shot 45.3 percent from the field and 38.5 percent from deep while connecting on 10-of-14 from the charity stripe for 71.4 percent.
The Coyotes look to avenge a 82-75 loss to Western Illinois at the end of December when they host the Leathernecks on Wednesday at 7 p.m. inside the Sanford Coyote Sports Center.
(Caleb Christensen contributed to this report)
