The USD Coyotes men’s basketball team got the kind of start they have been looking for in North Central Conference play Saturday night in the DakotaDome.
And it could not have come at a more perfect time as the fourth-ranked Coyotes jumped on the league-leading MSU-Mankato Mavericks early and never looked back, earning a 80-61 victory in front of 5,920 spectators.
“When we get a big start, it feels a lot more relaxing when we get ahead and not let them get ahead,” junior guard Jesse Becker said after coming off the bench to score 23 points in 28 minutes of action.
“I think Duluth got a little jump on us in the beginning. It’s nice to actually get a jump on someone else at the beginning of the game because we’re a slow starting team.”
Becker connected on 5-of-7 3-pointers to provide a constant outside presents while 6-foot-11 junior center Steve Smith scored 16 points to provide a powerful inside, outside one-two punch offensive punch for the Coyotes.
Smith, who battled the majority of the night against Mankato’s 6-foot-11 senior center Atila Santos, said he wanted to play well against the post player Coyote head coach Dave Boots regarded as one of the best in the league.
“Coach told that it was going to be a good battle between us,” Smith said. “I kind of wanted to show everybody that he may not be the best post player in the league and I wanted to put myself out there because I haven’t been playing very well so far this season. I wanted to have a good performance and I felt I played very well tonight.”
The Coyotes (19-1, 4-1 NCC) quick start was sparked on the defensive end as USD came up with a steal on the Mavericks (16-5, 5-1) first offensive possession when junior Dylan Grimsley stepped in front of a Preston Whitaker pass and took it back for a layup.
The Mavericks went scoreless on their first four offensive possessions while Coyotes got a 3-pointer from senior forward Eric Hall and another from Grimsley to put USD up 8-0 early on.
But the Mavericks fought their back into the game and got to within 11-10 on a Santos layup at the 14:09 mark before Becker and junior guard Mitch Begeman provide a spark off the bench.
Becker hit a 3-pointer, assisted a Begeman layup, connected on two more 3-pointers on consecutive possessions before Begeman hit a 3 to allow the Coyotes to regain their early advantage at 24-13 with 10:56 remaining in the first half.
Boots said the spark provided by Becker and Begeman off the bench was “really important.”
“We view those two kids as kids that would start for us. They accept that role,” Boots said. “They work hard in practice.”
The Mavericks cut the Coyote advantage to 33-26 with 3:18 left in the first half, before USD went into halftime with a 41-30 lead.
Santos hit a jump shot to open the second half for the Mavericks, but Hall countered with a 3-pointer.
MSU got to within 50-42 with 14:47 remaining before the Coyotes went on a 10-1 run to give USD a 60-43 advantage, the largest to that point, with 10:21 remaining.
“We made some big plays,” Boots said. “That’s what we talked about all through the game, before the game and at halftime; be aggressive through the whole thing. Don’t just back off and start playing not to lose the game. You’ve got to be aggressive offensively.”
Boots said the Coyotes played as close to a complete game as they could, hitting 52.6 percent of their shots while allowing the Mavericks to hit just 32.9 percent from the field.
“If we’re going to beat a good team, our offense has to equal our defense,” Boots said. “You just can’t be a good defensive team and then not able to score. The more you score, the more energy it brings to that defense. When they cut it to eight, our guys answered the bell just like you’d like to see as a coach.”
The Mavericks got to within 13 with 7:59 remaining before the Coyotes had the largest lead of the game 78-55 on a Smith layup with 1:53 remaining.
The Coyotes and Mavericks, who are both 4-1 in league play, find themselves atop the standings, which is no surprise considering both schools shared the regular season NCC championship last year before USD beat Mankato in the NCC tournament in Vermillion last year to earn the post season league title.
If USD defeats Nebraska-Omaha Saturday in Omaha Feb. 9 and the Mavericks defeat Minnesota-Duluth Thursday Feb. 7 in Mankato and can handle St. Cloud State in St. Cloud next Saturday, MSU and USD would battle again for first-place in the league Thursday Feb. 14 in Mankato, which is something Becker said the Coyotes are familiar with.
“We’ve battled these guys before in the same situation,” Becker said. “Thankfully, we had them at home and beat them at home to win the NCC last year.
“But we know it’s going to come down to a couple really good teams in this conference and Mankato is definitely one of the toughest ones. … Hopefully we can get them at their place and hopefully host the NCC tournament back here.”
– Vance Janak
