Summit League Men: South Dakota Rallies, But Falls Late to North Dakota State

South Dakota knew when they welcomed North Dakota State to the DakotaDome Thursday night they were stepping on the floor with the top shooting team in the nation.

They saw the best of the Bison in the first half, but cam storming back when NDSU went cold in the second half, but the Coyotes couldn't get points when they needed them, falling at home for the first time in Summit League play. 66-63.

The Bison started like they always do, hitting 57 percent of their shots (8-of-14) to start the game, while the Coyotes were struggling at just 33 percent, falling behind by 7.

But USD found its stroke from behind the 3-point arc moments later, Casey Kasperbauer with a triple, followed two from Adam Thoesby, who was playing in front of his father, who make the trip in from Australia.  The three point barrage cut the NDSU lead to 2 with 5:35 left.

But the Bison mounted a run, 11-2, toward the end of the half, pushing the lead back to 11, which was the edge at halftime, 44-33.

TrayVonn Wright with 12 first half points.  The Coyotes did hold Summit League leading scorer Taylor Braun to just four free throws in the first 20 minutes.

Trevor Gruis led USD in the first half with 12 points.

In the second half, the Coyotes played with much more determination at both ends of the floor, heating it up on offense and getting stops on defense, a Trey Norris with a steal and a basket giving USD a 57-56 lead, moments later it was six straight from Brandon Bos and the Coyotes had a five point lead with about 4:00 to play.

But NDSU wasn't done, crafting a run to grab a one point lead with 9.5 seconds left when Gruis was fouled and had two free throws to give the Coyotes the lead, or at least tie the game.  He missed both, Wright added a pair of free throws for the Bison, leaving USD with a 3-point chance to tie it, but Bos' shot was blocked out of bounds taking the Coyotes chances of winning with it.

USD (8-12/3-3) host South Dakota State Saturday afternoon..