2008 USD football schedule announced

While it comes with the tag line that every game is subject to change, the Coyotes released the 2008 football schedule.

It features 11 games, including five at home, all against NAIA opponent. The six road games see the Coyotes face five D-I Football Championship Subdivision schools.

The Coyotes will open the Division I era Aug. 30 at 7 p.m in the DakotaDome against NAIA St. Ambrose.

The Coyotes then travel to former North Central Conference and D-I FCS established Northern Iowa. That game is scheduled to get underway Sept. 6 at 4:05 p.m. in the UNI Dome.

USD stays on the road as they travel to Hammond, La., to take on Southeast Louisiana at 6 p.m. The Lions are a Southland Conference member with the campus located 45 miles away from Louisiana’s flagship university LSU.

The Coyotes return Sept. 20 to take on NAIA member Culver-Stockton at 2 p.m.

Then USD hits the road again as they travel to Montana State; another solid D-I FCS school. That game is scheduled for 1:05 MST on Sept. 27.

USD then faces Great West Conference foe Cal Poly at 6:05 PST Oct. 4. The Coyotes will open play in its new league at San Louis Obispo, Calif.

The Coyotes return from that trip to host Missouri S&T in the Dome at 2 p.m. Missouri S&T is a member of the Mid-American Intercollegiate Conference, which is the same league traditional D-II power Northwest Missouri State competes in.

USD then travels to Tigerville, S.C., to take on North Greenville. NGU is a D-II school that competes in the National Christian College Athletics Association.

The Coyotes then host Southern Oregon in the Dome at 2 p.m. The Raiders are another NAIA opponent.

USD then hits the road to face Southern Utah Nov. 15 at 1 p.m. MST. The Thunderbirds are a Great West Conference member.

The Coyotes end the season Nov. 22 against former NCC foe and rival North Dakota at 2 p.m. in the Dome.

Its not really the greatest schedule, but that’s life of a school in transition from D-II to D-IAA. I’m sure there are some short of agreements with some of the D-IAA teams to return to the Dome.

Check back with this blog for comments from head coach Ed Meierkort and players on what their thoughts are on the schedule.

– Vance Janak

Coyote women win final NCC Indoor meet; men finish second

It’s fitting that the team that has dominated the North Central Conference Indoor Track and Field championship meet won the final meet.

The USD women’s track and field team, who have won three of the last four indoor crowns, totaled 192 points to earn the eighth indoor title in school history.

The Coyote women finished fourth at last year’s meet, but outscored MSU-Mankato, who finished with 162 points, after the USD women won five individual titles and two relay titles.

“We had a phenomenal afternoon. It was a great team effort led by Stephanie Gebhart, Ramsey Kavan and Emma Erickson. We were proud of everybody on this team,” said USD head women’s track and field coach Lucky Huber, who helped lead the Coyote women to their seventh indoor title in 14 years at USD.

Sophomore Ramsey Kavan won three individual at the two-day meet. Kavan won the 3,000-meter run, the 1-mile run and the 1,000-meter run.

Sophomore Emma Erickson won two individual events including the 800-meter run with a time of 2:12.78, which is an automatic qualifying time for nationals and nearly broke the NCC record held by USD grad Kassy Laber 2:12.57.

In the 500-meter run, Erickson won the event while teammate Rosalie Brueske finished second.

Senior Stephanie Gebhart finished second in the 400-meter dash and was just shy of an automatic qualifying time for nationals at 56.60. The automatic standard is 56.20.

Junior Allie Smith finished seventh in the 400-meter dash.

Senior Lindsay House finished second in the 60-meter hurdles while Haley Juhnke finished sixth in the same event.

Shaneka Parkes was third in the 60-meter dash while teammates Jenessa Filler and Lauren Krell finished sixth and seventh. Parkes was also fourth in the 200-meter dash while Filler was sixth in the same event.

The USD women sccored major points in the triple jump as Tia Haines was second, Natalie Stout scored fourth and Betsy Lubber finished fifth.

Andrene Miller finished third in the long jump.

Allison Duba finished fourth in the 1,000-meter run.

Kelsey Maloney was fourth in the 5,000-meter run and was also third in the 3,000-meter run.

Shara Thompson was seventh in the women’s shot put.

Katie Cerling finished eighth in the pole vault.

The USD women also won the 4×400-meter relay and the distance medley relay.

The Coyote women did an outstanding job of bouncing back from last year’s fourth place finish. Erickson and Kavan scored 50 points between the two of them. Considering the margin of victory was 30 points. Look for those two to finish high at nationals coming up March 14-15.

Meanwhile, the USD men finished second to MSU-Mankato after the Mavericks scored 284 points while the Coyotes had 148 points.

Freshman Jason Sebern won the triple jump while also finishing second in the high jump.

Senior hurdler Terry Liggins became the first athlete in NCC history to win the 60-meter hurdles four straight years. Liggins also finished sixth in the 200-meter dash and was eighth in the 60-meter dash.

Scott Hargens finished second in the 400-meter dash while Tyler Wetering was second in the 1,000-meter run. Rob Gregiore was fifth in the same event.

Junior sprinter was third in the 60-meter dash and the 200-meter dash.

Senior Josh Jeffery was third in the 1-mile run and also finished fourth in the 800-meter dash.

Ben Walters finished fourth in the shot put.

Tyler Williamson was fifth in the 500-meter dash.

Matt Yaggie finished fifth in the 5,000-meter run.

Junior sprinter Ben Oberle was eighth in the 400-meter dash.

The USD distance medley relay team finished second while the 4×400-meter relay team was fifth.

From looking through the event finishing list, it was too much MSU-Mankato and their depth. In many situations, the Mavericks had two or three finishers compared to the one or two that the Coyotes had. That allowed the Mavericks to morph the Coyotes in the standings.

“I am really proud of our athletes, who had a lot of adversity this weekend. Given those factors, I feel good about their performance. They battled all weekend,” said USD men’s track and field head coach Dave Gottsleben.

Given what Gottsleben said, the fact that the Coyotes dealt with illness and injury, they gave a solid effort while dealing with those issues.

- – Vance Janak

USD men’s and women’s track and field teams second after first day of NCC meet

In the final North Central Conference Indoor Track and Field championship meet, the USD Coyotes men’s and women’s teams both find themselves sitting in second place heading into the final day.

The Coyote men, the defending NCC indoor champs, trail MSU-Mankato, who have 75 points compared to USD’s 50 points at the end of the first day.

On the women’s side, Augustana has 57 points while the USD women have 49 points.

The meet starts back up at 10 a.m. Saturday.

Six events are final on the men’s side including the pentathlon in which USD’s Jeff Seagren finished eighth.

Preston Scott won the weight throw with a hurl of 56-feet, 10-inches. Ben Walters was fourth with a throw of 54-feet, 4.5-inches.

Andrew Smith finished second in the pole vault with a personal-best of 15-feet-, 6.5-inches. Tim Rust was sixth at 14-feet, .75-inches.

Josh Olson finished third in the men’s long jump at 22-feet, 7-inches. Two other Coyotes also placed in the long jump with Alex Spielman taking seventh and Quincy Christie eighth.

The USD men’s distance medley relay was second (10:36.34) with a team of Josh Jeffery, Tyler Williamson, Gable Andrews and Robert Gregoire.

The Coyote women’s distance medley relay won the event with a time of 12:15.36. The team included Allison Duba , Stephanie Gebhart, Emma Erickson, and Ramsey Kavan.

Amy Velthoff captured third in the women’s weight throw 51-feet, .25-inches. Danielle Dornbusch was fifth.

Kristen Kritenbrink was third in the women’s high jump (5′01.25) while Jade Jasinski took eighth.

In the women’s long jump, Andrene Miller finished third (17-09.5) with Lindsey House fifth.

Two Coyote women placed in the top-six of the women’s pentathlon. Jasinski was fifth with 2,941 points and Stacy Gould took sixth with 2,882 points.

The main reason why Augustana has the lead thus far is that fact that they scored 25 points in the 5,000-meter run compared to five for USD. The Vikings are the defending NCC cross country champs and their distance runners were well represented in the 5,000 meter race.

For Saturday, look for Nebraska-Omaha, currently in sixth place with 18 points, to move up. The Mavericks have a lot of girls qualified for finals in the preliminaries of the sprint events and will score points today.

On the men’s side, the top two teams are right where they’re expected to be. Dominic Artis and Terry Liggins and both in the finals in several sprint events and look to score major points in those events. Scott Hargens is also in position to score some points for the Coyotes as well.

I don’t really see another team coming up and challenging USD as the final NCC crown should be decided between the Mavericks and Coyotes.

Check back with this blog for more NCC track and field updates.

- – Vance Janak

Coyotes look to win final NCC Indoor Track and Field titles

Seven North Central Conference men’s track and field teams and seven women’s track and field teams will start the quest for the final NCC Indoor track and field championship title Friday and Saturday in Mankato, Minn.

The USD Coyotes men’s track and field team will look to defend last years NCC title while the USD women’s track and field team looks to improve on last year’s uncharacterics fourth place finished, which snapped a string of two consecutive indoor titles.

Last year’s NCC indoor meet saw the Coyotes come away with the team title over MSU-Mankato. USD outscored the Mavericks 223.5 points to 222 points as the Coyotes won the final event of the meet, the 4×400-meter relay.

The Coyotes and Mavericks again look to be the front runners for the final NCC title. The difference in who wins the title could be in the number of athletes both have participating in the meet.

USD has many athletes on the men’s side who should be able to either win events or finish in the top three.

Some names to watch for this weekend:Dominic Artis, the junior sprinter should challenge for a top spot in the 60-meter dash and some of the other sprint events. Artis suffered an injury in last year’s NCC Indoor meet, but if he stays healthy, he should have an outstanding indoor meet.

Ben Oberle, the junior sprinter, should be another top contender in the sprint events, more specifically, the 200-meter dash and the 400-meter dash. Oberle finished third in both events at last year’s NCC indoor meet.

Terry Liggins, senior hurdler, is a lock to win the 60-meter hurdles if he does not get hurt or have other problems. Liggins looks to become the first athlete to win four straight indoor hurdle championships. Liggins will more than likely compete in the 200-meter dash and the high jump.

Scott Hargens, senior middle distance, won the 800-meter dash last year while anchoring the 4×400-meter relay team. Hargens has had a very good indoor season and should be able to pick up the 800-meter title and several others along the way.

Josh Olson, senior jumper, will, obviously, compete in the long jump and triple jump. Olson finished eighth in the triple jump and sixth in the long jump last year.

Preston Scott and Ben Walters are two guys in the throwing events that were solid at last year’s meet. Scott won the weight throw as last year’s indoor meet.Those are just a few of the USD men’s track and field athletes to watch for.

Check with this blog and with the volanteonline.com for updates.

For the USD women’s team has a lot of athletes to watch for and should be able to finish higher than last year’s performance.

Some athletes to watch are: senior Stephanie Gebhart. Gebhart redshirted last year in order to train to become an 800-meter runner, adding to her 400-meter dash ability. Look for Gebhart to finish high in one or both events as well as helping out with a relay team.

Emma Erickson, freshman middle distance, should contend in several events and shoudl be able to come up with at least one title. Erickson should be in the running for the 800-meter dash title and the 1,000-meter run.Quick note, the USD women’s team only had one runner in the 1,000-meter run and none in the 800-meter dash last year. The Coyotes will certainly improve in this area.

Natalie Stout, junior jumper, should contend for the triple jump title. Stout, who won the NCC title in that event as a freshman, finished fifth in the triple jump last year. Look for her to rebound.

Allison Smith, junior sprinter, should contend for titles in the 200-meter dash and the 400-meter dash. She scored points at last year’s meet and could move into the top two or three spots this year.

Lindsay House, senior hurdler and jumper, won the 60-meter hurdles and was fourth in the long jump. House has not had the same level of success so far this indoor season, but she may come out of the woodwork to repeat last year’s performance.

Ramsey Kavan, sophomore distance runner, won the NCC cross country title after having to redshirt due to transferring from Norte Dame and the fact that the Fighting Irish did not release her from her scholarship. Kavan should be able to come up with titles in many of the distance events.

This meet will probably come down to Nebraska-Omaha and the Coyotes. I think this is a different USD team than last year’s and I look for them to come up with the league title.

Another interesting and important angle comes from this quote from USD women’s track and field coach Lucky Huber in Ryan Moore’s Volante story in this week’s paper explains perfectly what the NCC meet is all about.

“It’s really the kids that score one, two and three points in the meet that really make the big difference.”

Many of the athletes above probably will not fall into this category, but the ones that are in the back half of the top eight are very important and make the difference.

If you do not believe me, ask USD men’s track and field head coach Dave Gottsleben. His team won by a 1.5 points. That adds up to two eighth place finishes or one seventh place finisher.

- – Vance Janak

Coyote men’s basketball team in a tough spot, but will history repeat itself?

This quote by Argus Leader beat reporter Mick Garry has in his story today from USD men’s basketball senior Dustin Little pretty much sums up what the Coyotes need to do to get back on the winning track.

“It’s time to stop talking about playing better and just start playing better. It’s time to go to practice, practice hard, then go into a game and get it done. We need to start playing to win.”

What else can you do after losing three straight North Central Conference games on the road? For one thing, no excuses, which is what you get out of a senior who’s a member of an NCC postseason tournament championship team his freshman year (2004-05) and last year’s NCC regular season and postseason title team.

The 75-60 loss the Coyotes suffered at the hands of Nebraska-Omaha last Saturday was baffling because of how lopsided the final outcome was and the fact that USD seemingly got outplayed by UNO.

The two losses in Minnesota to MSU-Mankato and St. Cloud State aren’t any better, but the Coyotes were MUCH closer in both of those games compared to the UNO game.

Consider the fact that the Coyotes were up 72-69 with 3:24 remaining on a 3-pointer by Mitch Begeman and again up 75-72 with 2:35 on a 3-pointer by Dylan Grimsley against MSU-Mankato.

Begeman had a chance in the final seconds with a floater, but it didn’t fall. The Coyotes really have had that one.

Then there was the St. Cloud State game in which the Coyotes were tied with 3:53 remaining before dropping a 75-71 decision.

What USD men’s basketball head coach Dave Boots told Mick Garry after the loss to the Huskies is exactly true, which is certainly why Boots said it.

“We’re not getting the stops we need at the end of games, we’re not getting the rebounds at the end of games, we’re just not doing the little things you do to win close games. This was a repeat of Thursday night where we simply did not make the plays down the stretch that we needed to make.”

So what happens now? Where does the team go from here? How do they get back on track and win games?

For starters the Coyotes get a home game Thursday with North Dakota at 8 p.m. The Sioux are a team that the Coyotes beat 88-65 earlier this year. That helps.

In my opinion, every game from here on out is a must-win for the Coyotes and they need to win out if they hope to have a very comfortable chance at the postseason. The Coyotes have lost to good basketball teams and teams that are contenders, but, when it comes to being a top team, you have to win them all.

Consider the fact that St. Cloud State wasn’t ranked in the North Central Region rankings, the Coyotes have a good chance of falling out of the rankings.

I’m sure none of the USD players or coaches are worried about this right now as they are more concerned with correcting their ills of the recent weeks. But looking forward, the Coyotes could finish the regular season with a 23-4 and 8-4 in the NCC if they win out.

That would probably put the Coyotes in either a tie for third at worst and possibly second if they get some help.

If the glass is half full, the Coyotes could pull out a run similar to the 04-05 team that nearly won the North Central Region after winning the NCC postseason tournament title after coming into the league tournament as a No. 2 seed and won the automatic berth into the NCAA Division II tournament.

The Coyotes then advanced to the North Central Region Finals before falling to a hot-shooting 3-point shooting Metro State team 89-84. That snapped an 11-game win streak for a team that set a school-record with 27 wins.

That team was aided by the experience of seniors Josh Mueller, Luke Tibbets and Steve Anderson. That team lost four games in a row before going on their run that included winning the final six NCC regular season games.

Will it happen again? Three straight losses could give way to four straight regular seasons, an NCC post season title and a significant run into the North Central Region tournament?

Little and Eric Hall each had significant playing time on that team. In their final season as a Coyote, you know those two want to go out on top and will do all they can to get the problems corrected and get back on top.

Yes, things can get worse for the Coyotes, but they’ll probably only get better and should be fun to watch.

- – Vance Janak

USD men’s basketball team drops third-straight league road game

By Vance Janak

Three consecutive North Central Conference road games added up to three-straight losses for the USD men’s basketball.

The Coyotes finished their three-game road swing Saturday with a 75-71 loss to St. Cloud State in Halenbeck Hall.

Senior forward Eric Hall scored a career-high 30 points while junior center Steve Smith added 13 points for the Coyotes. Senior guard Dustin Little contributed nine points while junior Dylan Grimsley finished with eight points.

Leading the way for the Huskies was center Matt Schneck with 17 points. Forward Andrew Bernstetter added 15 points while senior David Dreas poured in 14 points. Jesse Fisher rounded out the Huskies double figurer scorers with 11 points.

The road trip, which started with a 75-60 loss last Saturday at Nebraska-Omaha, also saw the Coyotes drop a 78-77 decision Thursday night at MSU-Mankato.

In all three games, the Coyotes trailed at halftime. Against MSU-Mankato and St. Cloud State, USD held the lead or tied the game with less than four minutes to play.

With the loss, the Coyotes (19-4) drop to fourth in the NCC (4-4). Mankato holds the conference lead with a 9-1 record in league play while Augustana is second at 6-3 and UNO third at 5-4.

The Coyotes, who shared the NCC regular season title with MSU-Mankato last season, are virtually eliminated from winning the NCC title.

USD got off to a better start than SCSU as the Coyotes jumped out to a 10-5 lead on a Hall 3-pointer with 15:43 remaining in the first half.

But the Huskies battled back and took their largest lead of the first half 26-19 on a Taylor Witt 3-pointer with 7:01 remaining in the first half.

The Coyotes retook the lead 32-31 on a jump shot by junior forward Rane Mergen with 4:08 remaining in the first half. But the Huskies took a 39-35 lead into halftime.

USD took a 53-51 lead with 9:52 remaining in the game on a jump shot by Hall. The two teams swapped the lead with neither grabbing more than a two-point advantage.

Smith scored a layup with 3:53 remaining to tie the game at 61-all, but that was the closest the Coyotes would get as the Huskies slowly took control of the game to come away with the victory.

The Coyotes will face North Dakota Thursday at 8 p.m. in the DakotaDome. USD defeated UND 88-65 Jan. 19 in Grand Forks.

Coyote men remain third in North Central Region basketball poll

The North Central Region rankings came out yesterday and the USD men’s basketball team remained in the third spot behind Winona State and Northern State.

Here is a link to the rankings:

Eventually, I think the Coyotes will jump Northern State even if both teams keep winning. The Wolves squeaked out two wins last weekend, getting by Wayne State 68-61 and got by Southwest Minnesota State 71-69 in overtime last Saturday in Aberdeen.

Winona got by Upper Iowa 72-62 Saturday.

Now onto this week.

Winona travels to Wayne State Friday and is also on the road Saturday against Southwest Minnesota State.

The Wildcats and the Mustangs are both 13-9 overall and 8-5 in the Northern Sun to tie for third. It will be interesting to see how the Warriors do against the third-best teams in their league.

The Wolves, on the other hand, are at Minnesota State Moorhead Friday at 8 p.m. and are at Concordia St. Paul Saturday at 8 p.m.

Moorhead is 13-8, 6-6 in the NSIC while Concordia is 12-9, 6-6 in the NSIC. The two teams are tied for fifth in the NSIC.

I don’t think either team will be upset against the better teams in the league, but I’m sure the Coyotes would take in whatever way they can get it.

I’ll let you know if there are any shakeups.

- – Vance Janak

USD men look to stop UNO home win streak

By Vance Janak
The Volante

The fourth-ranked USD men’s basketball team hopes things are a little easier the second time around against North Central Conference foe Nebraska-Omaha.

In the first meeting this season Jan. 24 in the DakotaDome, the Coyotes (19-1, 4-1 NCC) came away with an 81-70 victory while hitting just 4-of-23 3-pointers.

But Junior guard Jesse Becker, who scored a team-high 19 in the victory over the Mavericks (17-4, 3-3 NCC), said the game plan is pretty much the same for Saturday’s 4 p.m. game in the Sapp Fieldhouse, but noted areas of possible improvement.

“They like to push the ball so we’re going to have to get that set zone defense on them and keep shooting the ball well offensively,” Becker said. “Hopefully we’ll make more than 3-of-23 3’s like last game.”

Junior guard Dylan Grimsley, whose averaged 17 points and 3.3 steals in three games against the Mavericks, said he expects a tough game on UNO’s home court because they are 11-1 at home and are riding an eight-game home win streak.

“It will be real tough just because we’ve played them once before and it’s going to be even tougher when we play at their place,” Grimsley said. “Last year, I don’t think they are as good as they are this year and we had a real tough time winning. It was a real dogfight down there. So we’re expecting the same thing.”

Becker said winning on the road in the NCC is always difficult, but the difficulty is multiplied against a quality team like the Mavericks.

“Obviously they have a couple guys who are real good scorers,” Becker said. “They have a point guard who’s real good and they have a two guard who is in the top three or four in the conference in scoring so we’re going to have to watch out for those guys.”

Four Maverick starters and sixth man Mitch Albers average double figures to propel the Mavericks offense, which leads the league in points per game with 85.8 points per game.

Michael Jenkins, a 6-foot-3 junior guard, averages a team-high 16.4 points per game, while Andrew Bridger, a 6-foot sophomore guard, averages 12.8 points per game.

Jerry Bennett, UNO’s 6-foot-7 senior forward, averages 12.2 points per game, while 6-foot-4 senior forward Denny Johnston averages 11.6 points per game and Albers, a 6-foot-4 freshman guard, averages 10.9 points per game off the bench.

USD head coach Dave Boots said the Mavericks four-guard line up is difficult to defend.

“They play those four guards, which causes us some problems with their quickness and the fact that all four can shoot it,” Boots said. “They are very quick off the dribble. They can really break you down, so if you extend your defense so hard to get out to the shooters, they’re going to go by you and put you into some breakdown situations and potentially foul trouble situations.”

Allowing the Mavericks to get to the free throw line can be costly as UNO leads the NCC in free throws made (381) and free throw percentage (79.5).

With the strong guard play comes the ability to hit 3-point shots, which is something Boots said the Coyotes need to limit.

“We’re going to have to defend the perimeter,” Boots said. “We’ve got to get back on defense better than the first time we played them and somehow you’ve got to contain that dribble-drive penetration situation without fouling them and putting them at that free throw line for 30 plus attempts.

“It is a good challenge for us and we have to play outstanding basketball.”

A look back at MSU-Mankato basketball

So I was kind of right with my pre-game entry about what to expect with Saturday’s double header in the DakotaDome for the USD men’s and women’s basketball teams with MSU-Mankato.

As I stated in the entry, the women would win by 15-20 while the men would get a tight game.

Can I get a pardon since it happened, but in opposite fashion with the women winning close 73-68 and the men getting the easier win 80-61.

First the USD women, good teams, such as the Coyote women, find ways to win in tight games and that is actually what they did.

Senior guard Shannon Daly had a nice night with 16 points. Daly did a nice job of getting to the basket and coming up with tough baskets inside.

Jeana Hoffman, who could quite possibly be the North Central Conference Player of the Year after being named the Newcomer of the Year last year, scored 13 points, but came up with a clutch 3-pointer with 2:34 remaining to put the Coyotes up two. From that point, the Mavericks tied it but never took the lead again.

The Coyotes won despite hitting just five 3-pointers and shooting 44.1 percent from the field compared to 51.9 percent for the Mavericks.

A veteran USD women’s team was able to make plays in the final two minutes of the game to get the victory. It wasn’t pretty, but it is a win and that is all that matters.

One concern for the Coyotes has to be Jenna Hoffman leaving the game with what looked to be a right ankle injury. I’m sure Matt Dahlseid will have an update on that injury and check back with this blog and the Volante print edition Wednesday.

Now onto the USD men’s game with Mankato.

First off, what a start the Coyotes got off to in that one. A steal on the opening possession and then 3-pointers by Eric Hall and Dylan Grimsley to put USD up 8-0 early.

Mankato gets back to within one at 11-10 and then Jesse Becker and Mitch Begeman come in and score 15 points to make things comfortable again for the Coyotes.

The Mavericks got close in the second half, but never extremely close to were the Coyotes really had to stress. MSU got to within eight, but the Coyotes took used a 10-1 run to again regain supremacy.

To me, Mankato never really had much of a chance, but made that quick start really helped the Coyotes and gassed the Mavericks early.

Or, maybe this isn’t the same MSU team with the graduation of Luke Anderson and co.

Either way, it sets up a very interesting game in Mankato on Valentines day, Thursday Feb. 14 in both teams take care of business this week.

Four wins in two double headers is exactly what the Coyotes were looking forward.

Check out this weeks print issue of the Volante for men’s and women’s basketball stories as well as other interesting stories on USD athletics.

- – Vance Janak

Coyote men score win over league-leading MSU-Mankato

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