CHICAGO, IL (USD) — Wyoming transfer Jeremiah Oden scored a season-high 16 points and DePaul held South Dakota to 32 percent shooting in a 72-60 win Tuesday inside Wintrust Arena. It was the first meeting between the two teams since 1939.
DePaul (1-2) knocked down eight 3-pointers and shot 46 percent from the field to earn its first win of the season. K.T. Raimey made three triples and scored 11 points off the Blue Demons’ bench. Churchill Abass added eight points, seven rebounds and had four of DePaul’s nine blocked shots.
South Dakota (2-1) got 21 points and 10 rebounds from Lahat Thioune and Kaleb Stewart added 15, but the Coyotes were unsuccessful in their first trip away from Vermillion. A 4-for-17 effort from long range aided their demise.
Thioune registered his second straight double-double. He had 14 points in the second half and had all 12 South Dakota points from the 10-minute mark to the 3-minute mark. Thioune was 6-of-9 past halftime, but the rest of the Coyotes were a combined 6-of-28.
DePaul outscored South Dakota 17-5 in the final seven minutes leading into halftime and flipped a 20-19 deficit into a 36-25 advantage. The Blue Demons’ bench behind Raimey, Abass and Jaden Henley combined for 20 first-half points and DePaul made 14-of-27 shots in the opening stanza.
South Dakota used a mini 6-0 run capped by Thioune’s first bucket of the half to draw within seven at 48-41 with 12 minutes to go and it drew a DePaul timeout. The Coyotes earned one more possession to draw closer, but a turnover led to a layup by Oden and DePaul scored six unanswered points to regain control.
South Dakota next heads to Arizona for a two-day tournament in Glendale. The Coyotes take on VMI at 1 p.m. (CST) Friday from Desert Diamond Arena. Saturday’s opponent will be either Purdue Fort Wayne or Northern Arizona.
