Justin Simmons scored 26 points in leading Omaha to a 95-90 win against South Dakota Thursday.VERMILLION, S.D - -
Justin Simmons made five three-pointers and scored 26 points in leading Omaha to a 95-90 win against South Dakota Thursday at the DakotaDome. It was the first win in Vermillion for the Mavericks since 2005 and avenged a 95-72 loss to USD in late December.
Juevol Myles made four three-pointers and had 26 points to lead South Dakota (8-13, 4-5 Summit League). Steve Tecker had 14 points and Trevor Gruis scored 13 for the Coyotes. Both had nine rebounds.
Omaha (6-16, 3-6) led 75-60 with nine minutes to go, but saw Myles score 10 points during a 20-6 run that got the Coyotes within one, 81-80, with four minutes remaining. The Mavericks scored on five consecutive possessions to push the lead back to six, 90-84, with two minutes left. The Coyotes had a chance to tie in the closing seconds, but Myles missed a long 3 from the top of the key and CJ Carter secured the rebound and hit two free throws with 1.7 seconds left to end the game.
Carter and Alex Welhouse had 17 points and John Karhoff and Caleb Steffensmeier each added 14 for the Mavericks. Omaha made a season-high 13 triples on 26 attempts and shot 56 percent from the field.
South Dakota made 11 threes, had 15 assists to five turnovers and shot 46 percent from the field. The Coyotes led 39-38 towards the end of the first half after trailing by as many as 11 in the stanza. Welhouse hit a 3 at the end of the half that gave Omaha a 43-41 halftime lead.
USD, the highest scoring team in the league this season, reached 90 points for the second game in a row and for the third time in its last eight games. The Coyotes have a week off before returning to the court Thursday with a 7 p.m. contest at South Dakota State.
