Brandon Bos scored a career-high 29 points, James Hunter scored a career-high 16 points and fifth-seeded South Dakota rode a 21-point halftime lead to an 82-73 win against fourth-seeded Fort Wayne in a Summit League Tournament quarterfinal game.
It was the first win in three tries at the Summit League Tournament for South Dakota (17-15). A date with top-seed South Dakota State (22-9) looms Monday at 6 p.m. for the right to play in Tuesday’s final.
Bos made 6 of 6 from the field including four 3-pointers and had 19 points in the first half. He scored 11 consecutive points near the midway point of the half that broke an 11-11 tie and gave South Dakota a 22-11 lead. His fourth triple made it 38-17 with 4:55 to go.
Hunter added 12 points on 6 of 9 shooting in the opening stanza. South Dakota shot a season-best 63 percent in the first half (17 of 27) and led 44-23 at the break.
It took five minutes in the second half for the Mastodons (16-14) to cut the lead to 10. Joe Edwards and Isaiah McCray hit back-to-back 3’s and McCray added a layup that closed the gap to 46-36.
Casey Kasperbauer scored the next seven points for South Dakota. He hit a mid-range jumper, made three free throws on one possession, and added another jumper. Kasperbauer finished with 12 points.
South Dakota used a 10-0 run to push the lead to 67-48 with just under seven minutes to go. Tre Burnette started the rally with his second bucket of the game. Tyler Larson, who had nine points, nine rebounds and four assists, nailed his first 3 of the game, and Hunter caught a long pass from Trey Norris and scored on a fast break.
Norris tied his season high with eight assists for the Coyotes. South Dakota had 19 assists on 26 made buckets.
Max Landis led one final Fort Wayne rally. His first points of the game came on a 3 with 5:40 to go. He would score 11 more points during the next four minutes. His fourth triple in that span brought the Mastodons within six points, 72-66, with 1:40 remaining. He finished with 14 points.
Fort Wayne drew as close as five points with two free throws by Edwards with 1:10 to go. South Dakota made 8 of 10 from the stripe from that point forward to close out the win.
Bos was 10 of 11 from the line and South Dakota made 22 of 29 as a team. Bos also had seven rebounds and five assists in the game.
Edwards had 16 points to lead four Mastodons in double figures. Big man Steve Forbes had 14 points, but on 5 of 13 shooting. Forbes averaged 22 points and missed four shots total in two regular season games against South Dakota. Credit Hunter, who drew the assignment on Forbes for much of the game and matched him point for point.
It was the rubber match between the two teams as both squads won during the regular season on the other’s home court.
Monday’s semifinal between South Dakota and South Dakota State is a rematch of a game played eight days ago in Vermillion. South Dakota got 19 points from Burnette and 17 from Kasperbauer in an 80-64 win.
