DSU Men’s Basketball Drops Road Game to Sioux Falls

The Dakota State men’s basketball team played its second game in a span of six days when they traveled to play Sioux Falls yesterday. The Cougars were able to hold off the Trojans by a score of 75-61.

Both teams went through six lead changes in the early going of the game, with each side trading leads for the first seven minutes of the game. Then, both sides exchanged scoring runs, with Sioux Falls going on a 10-0 run before DSU answered with a 7-0 run of their own.

The Trojans trailed 34-28 heading into the half.

The Cougars were able to maintain a double-digit lead throughout the second half before Dakota State rallied back to cut their deficit into single digits. However, despite attempts to comeback from DSU, USF was still able to pull out the win after they outscored the visitors 41-33 in the final twenty minutes of the game, to give the Cougars the 75-61 victory.

Deshawn Kelly led the Trojans with 17 points on his 7-of-15 field goals and made all three free-throws for DSU. Manny N’tula added 12 points on his 4-of-6 3-pointers and grabbed six rebounds. Chris Morales tallied 11 points.

Ben Damerun led the team with six rebounds and dished out seven assists. N’Tula, Ronnie Latting, and Damerun each registered a blocked shot.

Four USF players hit double-digits, led by Matt Cartwright with 22 points, who also had eight rebounds. Jack Thompson added 14 points, six rebounds, and four assists. Jake Kettner had 13 points and five rebounds. Zane Alm scored 11 points and collected nine rebounds for the Cougars and had four blocked shots.

Dakota State shot 44.2 percent overall from the field (23-of-52 field goals) and held Sioux Falls to 39.3 percent (24-of-61 field goals). USF was 7-of-23 from the 3-point line (30.4 percent), while DSU was 5-of-16 3-pointers (31.3 percent).

Dakota State remains at 2-2 overall record.  Sioux Falls has a 2-1 overall record after the victory. 

The Trojans return to regular-season action Monday evening, when they visit Hastings at Lynn Farrell Arena. Tip-off is set for 7pm.