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Huskies upset by King, USD
One night after beating second-place UNO, men's basketball team can't survive South Dakota's hot shooting.
 Media Credit: scott theisen South Dakota senior Tommie King makes a lay-up in the first half Saturday night at Halenbeck Hall. King scored a career-high 35 points to lead the Coyotes in a 97-89 upset of SCSU.
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Tommie King was a lot like a superhero Saturday night.
The University of South Dakota senior forward couldn't be stopped in the paint, or anywhere else for that matter, as he scored a career-high 35 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in the Coyotes' 97-89 upset win over the NCC-leading and 20th-ranked SCSU men's basketball team. King was guarded by four different Huskies during the game, none of whom had any success trying to stop the burly 6-foot-5 transfer from Iowa State.
It also didn't hurt that the Coyotes came into Halenbeck Hall and shot the lights out. After leading 48-40 at intermission, USD went on a 10-0 run early in the second half to take control of the game. South Dakota shot an astounding 68 percent in the second half and 63 percent for the game. They were able to create a perfect inside/outside complement between King in the post and guards Josh Mueller and Doug Hanson around the arc.
The Coyotes also dominated the paint outscoring the Huskies 50-24. 19th-ranked USD (15-4, 4-4 NCC) was hungry for a win, especially after coming off a 26-point embarrassing defeat at the hands of North Dakota State a night earlier.
"We were hungry for a victory," King said after the game. "We knew it was going to be hard to come in here and win. Our backs were against the wall, especially after losing two straight. We're a better team than where we're at."
"This is one step for us in becoming a good team. St. Cloud's a good team and they pushed us the last two minutes. They didn't want to go away."
SCSU did offer up a good comeback after being down by as many as 17 with 10:44 remaining in the second half. Senior guard Forrest Witt hit three three-pointers from 4:20 to 1:51 remaining in the second half, freshman forward Matt Siegle made a fastbreak lay-up off an Alex Carlson steal and junior college transfer Jason Allen made three of four free throws to get the Huskies within one at 88-87 with a little less than a minute remaining.
However, throughout the entire game, every time SCSU made a run at getting back into it, USD squashed their attempt. Right after Allen missed the last of his four straight attempts at the foul line, Mueller came right down court and hit a trey to give his team a 91-87 lead. After two Siegle free throws, SCSU missed all of their attempts on the offensive end and were relegated to foul the Coyotes the rest of the way, all of whom made their foul shots.
"You have to give our kids credit in that they didn't give up," SCSU head coach Kevin Schlagel said. "It was a great comeback. It's just unfortunate you can't make up for all those lost chances in just a matter of minutes.
"They (South Dakota) can make life miserable for you and they made it tough on us tonight."
Those lost chances came in the form of costly turnovers and frigid shooting down the stretch for SCSU. The Huskies shot an uncharacteristically cold 43 percent for the game. This came after a hot start to begin the contest.
Senior Jason Kron scored 17 first half points, but his shooting went south down the stretch and he only finished with 23. Witt gave his team a lift with his solid play down the stretch, but was quiet through a big chunk of the second half. He finished with 26 points though and still thinks the Huskies can get something out of the game.
"I think we can take a few good things out of the game," Witt said. "We didn't give up and never died. Unfortunately they countered our comeback."
"They played better than they did at their place," Witt said in reference to the Huskies earlier 84-79 win over USD at Vermillion Jan. 4. "It seemed like they understood their roles a little better. It seemed like in South Dakota they all wanted to have the ball in their hands. Now I think they understand their roles better and are playing better as a unit."
Kron led the Huskies with 11 rebounds on Saturday and Carlson chipped in eight assists. Mueller backed up King's strong performance for the Coyotes with 23 points (five treys) and seven assists. Hanson added 15 points, including four from downtown.
The bigger game of the weekend tilt for SCSU was thought to be Friday's matchup against the second-place University of Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks. SCSU failed to disappoint and pulled out a hard-fought, physical 88-77 win.
After the game was tied at 38 all at halftime, SCSU came out in the second and took better care of the basketball after eight first half turnovers. They also established a low post presence with senior center Cullen Powers, who had 16 points.
After a Steve Trull flush with 6:26 left in the second, the Huskies had built themselves a 14-point cushion. That lead never went down past five points the rest of the way as SCSU held on. Witt went off at the end of the first half and was consistent throughout the second. He finished with 25 points to lead SCSU.
Schlagel said Witt's offensive outbursts are always expected.
"We've stuck with him for three-and-a-half years, I think we'll stick with him a little longer," Schlagel said laughingly. "He's such a gamer. You know at some point during the game he's going to break loose. I'm not worried when he misses a shot because I know sooner or later it'll start coming."
Despite the physicality of the contest, Witt thought the Huskies put up just as much fight.
"I think Omaha and South Dakota State are the two most physical teams that we'll play," he said. "We did a good job of responding to that physical play. We played with our usual finesse but we did a good job of playing physical, banging down low and getting key rebounds."
Five-foot-eight junior guard Ty Graham, who, despite his height, is one monster in the paint, led the Mavs with 22 points. Forward Dan Morrow was next with 18 points and forward Ryan Curtis added 10 points and nine boards for UNO.
On the weekend, SCSU had to deal with two nice post players. One was 5-8, and the other was the seemingly indestructible King. A cause of alarm could now be sounded for SCSU (18-3, 7-2 NCC) if they don't start to defend the post better and more consistently. Whether or not it was just Mighty Mouse (Graham) or Superman (King), the Huskies still will have to look at what went wrong down in the trenches.
Around the Rim
- Saturday night's crowd of 4,610 was noticeably loud and the largest of the season at Halenbeck.
- Saturday night's loss snapped an 11-game home-winning streak for the Huskies.
- Graham on his toughness: "Just because I'm 5-8 doesn't mean I'm going to take away my aggression. I just go after it full speed and I go after it hard."
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