Official Athletic Web Site of the University of South Dakota CoyotesMen's Basketball

Feb. 24, 2001

MANKATO, Minn. - South Dakota men's basketball team (21-5, 14-4 in the NCC) had trouble putting the ball in the basket and lost a North Central Conference men's basketball game to Minnesota State-Mankato, 62-56, at the Bresnan Arena of the Taylor Center at Mankato on Saturday night before 3,296.

For the first time this season, South Dakota has lost two games in a row. South Dakota, which entered the weekend with six straight NCC wins, finished their regular season, 21-5, including a 14-4 NCC mark. Despite the loss, South Dakota has won their third straight NCC title. Now, the Coyotes will return home to host the Wells Fargo/NCC Postseason Tournament on Friday and Saturday, March 1-2. In first round games, SDSU will be seeded No. 2 and host No. 7 seeded Augustana at home on Tuesday. No. 6 seed North Dakota will play at No. 3 seeded St. Cloud State while No. 5 seeded Minnesota State-Mankato will face No. 4 seeded Morningside in Sioux City, Iowa. The Coyotes will play the winner of the Morningside-Minnesota State-Mankato game.

With a winter storm brewing outside, the Coyotes had the chills inside as they struggled offensively against the Mavericks, a team South Dakota defeated 80-57 at the DakotaDome on Dec. 9. South Dakota managed to make just 20 of 51 field goals for 39.2 percent, including nine of 32 three-point field goals attempts for 28.1 percent. They made seven of 10 free throws.

On the night, neither team had success on the offensive end. The Mavericks hit just 18 of 48 field goals for 37.5 percent and were eight of 18 from three-point range for 44.4 percent. They hit 18 of 27 free throws.

Things started out okay for the Coyotes as senior forward Jeremy Kudera canned a three-pointer for a 3-0 lead at the 19:34 mark. Then, the Mavericks scored eight of the next 10 points to grab an 8-5 lead at the 15:40 mark. A lay-up by senior guard Nate Tibbetts gave the Coyotes an 11-8 lead with 13:28 to play in the opening half. Another Tibbett's lay-up enabled the Coyotes to move ahead 15-10 at the 12:31 mark. But then South Dakota shooting went awry. Minnesota State-Mankato outscored the Coyotes 14-8 to grab a 24-23 halftime lead. South Dakota scored just four points in the final 8:38 of the first half.

In the opening 20-minutes, the Coyotes made 10 of 25 field goals, but were just one of 12 from three-point range. They made just two of four free throws. Meanwhile, the Mavericks were also cold as they made only eight of 27 field goals for 29.6 percent, including four of 10 three-point field goals and four of six free throws.

A three-pointer by Tibbetts gave South Dakota a 26-24 lead at the 19:10 mark of the second half. The Mavericks' Josh Ziemke hit a jumper to give the home team a 30-29 lead with 14:19 to play. South Dakota's Paul Marshall managed to knock home a three-pointer at the 11:52 mark to tie the game at 33-33. However, that scored was answered by a three-point shot by Drew Carlson as the Mavericks jumped ahead 36-33. They extended the margin to 43-38 on another Carlson three-pointer at the 7:57 mark. The lead grew to 47-40 when Carlson made a pair of foul shots with 6:04 to play in the game. Tibbetts connected on two free throws to cut the margin to 47-42 with 5:42 to play. Trailing 49-42, the Coyotes received consecutive three-point bombs from Kudera and Marshall to whittle the lead to 51-48 at the 3:38 mark. But that was as close as the Coyotes would get. The Mavericks' Nick Ellenbecker hit a jumper and then Carlson hit a three-pointer with 1:36 to play for a 57-51 lead. Minnesota State led 59-51 with 56 seconds left when Ellenbecker hit a pair of foul shots. With 20 seconds left, Tibbetts hit another three-pointer, his third of the game, to give South Dakota some life. But the Mavericks' Kyle Staloch hit a free throw with 16 seconds left and the Coyotes were unable to score in the closing seconds.

Tibbetts led the Coyotes in scoring for the second straight night, totaling 17 points on Saturday. He also had five assists, three steals and five rebounds. Marshall had 13 points while Jimmie Foster and Kudera scored nine points. Jason Barrow led the Coyotes with nine rebounds. On a positive note, Tibbetts' three steals moved him into first-place on the Coyotes' career steals list with 210. He passed Tim Hatchett (1986-90), who had 208 during his career at South Dakota. With nine assists this weekend, Tibbetts, has 458 assists during his career in NCC games, which places him second behind Dan Ward, who had 462 playing for St. Cloud State from 1992-95. Tibbetts, who earlier this year broke the Coyotes' career assist mark, has continued to build on that total and now has 661 assists (all games).

The Mavericks received 19 points from Carlson and 15 points from Eric Siebrands while Ellenbecker had 11 points and 10 rebounds. Minnesota State-Mankato also won the rebound battle, 40-27.