Tyler Flack scored a career-high 22 points and Trey Norris added 17 more to lead South Dakota to an 85-82 win against IUPUI Thursday at Indiana Farmers Coliseum.
The win secures a Summit League Tournament berth for the Coyotes (14-16, 5-10 Summit), who wrap up the regular season Saturday at Western Illinois.
The Jaguars (12-18, 8-7) got 32 points from Darell Combs, but lost for just the second time in 10 home games this season. Matt O’Leary had 15 points and eight rebounds for IUPUI, which beat South Dakota on New Year’s Day in the Summit League opener for both teams.
“Literally every single guy who got in there made a positive impact on the game,” said USD head coach Craig Smith. “We had to win the battle of the boards to have a chance to win. Our guys made some huge plays, we got some big stops and won a lot of the 50-50 balls.”
In addition to Flack and Norris, the Coyotes got 23 points and 10 rebounds from their bench including nine points each from Dan Jech and Tre Burnette. Fifteen of the 18 points from that duo came in the second half. Jech played just four minutes after halftime, but was 3-for-3 from the field and 2-for-2 from the free-throw line in that span.
Flack’s 22 points are one more than his previous career high. He didn’t play in the first go-around with the Jaguars, but made 8 of 13 from the field and had three steals Thursday. Norris was 5 of 10 from the field and had six assists and three steals to go with his 17 points.
“Flack was a force tonight,” said Smith. “Both he and Norris were really good. Trey is playing the best ball of his career.”
