.Tre Burnette scored 19 points and grabbed 13 rebounds and Casey Kasperbauer chipped in 17 points in leading South Dakota to an 80-64 win against South Dakota State inside the DakotaDome Saturday.
The Coyotes (16-15, 9-7 Summit) have beaten their rival five of the last six times on their home court. South Dakota will finish no lower than fourth place in the Summit League standings and could be seeded third, fourth or fifth at next weekend’s Summit League Tournament in Sioux Falls pending the outcomes of Saturday’s games.
Cody Larson had 25 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Jackrabbits (21-9, 12-4), which settled for a share of the Summit League regular season crown with North Dakota State. South Dakota State had clinched the tournament’s top seed on Thursday.
South Dakota made 10 three-pointers and shot 47 percent from the field (25 of 53) to win for the fifth time in its last six games. Kasperbauer made four triples and had 14 points in the first half. The Coyotes spotted the Jacks an 8-0 lead before rallying to take a 44-34 edge into halftime.
Coyote big man James Hunter hit two quick field goals in the second half and South Dakota extended its lead to 15 at 51-36. South Dakota State drew within seven points at 64-57 with two George Marshall free throws with 5:52 to go. Hunter got his third field goal and Brandon Bos hit a long jumper to push the lead back to 11 points. Hunter had eight second-half points.
South Dakota made eight straight free throws to take a 79-61 lead with 2:25 remaining before South Dakota State emptied its bench. The Coyotes made 20 of 24 from the stripe compared to 13 of 18 for the Jacks.
Burnette registered his third double-double in the last five games and his fifth of the season. He made 8 of 12 shots from the field including two from downtown.
Cory Jacobsen’s 3-pointer with a minute to go was South Dakota State’s only bench points. Jake Bittle had 12 points to join Larson in double figures. Reed Tellinghuisen (2-9 FG) had nine points, George Marshall (2-11 FG) had eight and Deondre Parks (2-10 FG) had seven points for the Jacks.