Denver freshman Thomas Neff scored a season-high 16 points and Marcus Byrd added 14 more to lead the Pioneers to a 66-52 win against South Dakota Thursday at Magness Arena.
The victory was the first in three games for Denver (11-10, 3-5 Summit) as both teams completed the first round of Summit League play. South Dakota (10-12, 2-6) has lost five of its last six with a game at first-place Omaha next up Saturday.
The Pioneers ran the Princeton offense to the tune of 51 percent shooting and a 10 of 20 effort from 3-point range. Neff was 4 of 8 from beyond the arc while Byrd was 2 of 4. South Dakota hit 2 of 13 from downtown.
Denver led 13-4 six minutes into the game, never trailed and was never threatened past the 15 minute mark of the second half. The Coyotes cut a 30-22 halftime deficit to 32-28 on a layup by Shy McClelland with 15:19 left, but Neff answered with a triple that started a 15-2 run and put the game out of reach.
D.J. Davis scored in double figures for the third game in a row and led South Dakota with 12 points. Casey Kasperbauer had nine points. McClelland finished with seven. USD shot 43 percent from the field (21 of 49) and committed 14 turnovers that Denver turned into 16 points.
