South Dakota Men Snap Summit Skid with Win at IUPUI

The South Dakota Coyotes won a Summit League game for the first time in more than a month Thursday night, as they beat last place IUPUI 87-69 in Indianapolis.  The victory snapped a six-game conference losing streak, and eight losses in the last nine Summit League games.

With the win, USD (5-10) kept their hopes of securing the sixth seed at next week's Summit League Tournament alive, with one game to play.

Junior center Trevor Gruis played his best game of the season, shooting 10-for-15 with a season-high 26 points to lead USD.  He added six rebounds and five assists.

Senior guard Juevol Myles broke out of his personal slump with 18 points, including a strong first half: 4-for-7, 2 three-pointers, and 14 points. Myles had been shooting just 27 percent in USD's last five conference games, averaging 12 points a game.

South Dakota started hot hitting 4 three-pointers in the first 2:05, as Myles, Casey Kasperbauer, and Jordan Boots all connected, giving the Coyotes an early seven point lead. USD shot 60 percent for the first 10 minutes of the game.

USD pushed that advantage to as many as 13, with some help at the free throw line.  The Coyotes outscored IUPUI 15-1 from the charity stripe in the first 20 minutes.

Mitchell Patton kept the Jaguars (1-14) in the game, going 12-for-16 with 24 points.

USD led 47-38 at the break.

The Coyotes close out the regular season at Western Illinois, Saturday at 7:00pm.