VERMILLION, S.D. (USD) — A 50 percent shooting percentage helped North Dakota outpace South Dakota in an 86-72 win for the Fighting Hawks Saturday in Vermillion.
 
The win broke a three-game losing streak to the Coyotes for UND and pushed its record to 8-17 (2-10 Summit) this year. USD falls to 11-14 (6-7 Summit) this season.
 
Kruz Perrott-Hunt led the Coyotes in scoring with 18 points on the afternoon. On his second basket of the day, he became the 32nd member of the 1,000 point club in Coyote basketball history. Perrott-Hunt went 5-of-14 from the field and knocked down all seven of his free-throw attempts. He also had a team-high four assists and has scored in double-figures for the 13th straight game. Tasos Kamateros was the only other Coyote to register double-figures with 16 points on 6-of-12 shooting. Kamateros recorded a team-high nine rebounds for the second straight game. Damani Hayes had eight points and seven rebounds while Mason Archambault, A.J. Plitzuweit, and Max Burchill had six each. South Dakota shot 40 percent from the floor and was held to 23.5 percent from three and 0-of-8 from deep in the second half. After not taking any free-throws in the first half, USD went 18-of-20 from the line in the second half.
 
North Dakota came into the game shooting 43 percent from the floor and 34 percent from three. The Fighting Hawks started the game hot and continued to push the pace in transition, making South Dakota scramble to guard players on the perimeter. UND shot 47 percent from the floor and made 10 from three in the first half. That gave them a seven-point lead heading into the break. The second half was more of the same as UND built a double-digit lead off its first basket of the second half. After a pair of free-throws from Kamateros knocked the game down to single digits, North Dakota went on an 8-0 run to put them ahead by 17 points with 14 minutes to go. Five minutes later, a three-pointer from Tsotne Tsartsidze pushed UND ahead by 22 points – its largest lead of the game. South Dakota made a run late in the game to put life into the Coyote crowd. Two free-throws from Archambault started the run followed by two layups from Hayes and Plitzuweit and capped off by a Burchill jumper. The Coyotes trimmed the lead down to 12 with five minutes remaining, but North Dakota halted any momentum with baskets down the stretch and took today’s game by 14 points.
 
Matt Norman scored a game-high 21 points on 6-of-12 shooting. Norman sank 6-of-9 from beyond the arc and tied for the team-lead with three assists. B.J. Omot had 17 points on 4-of-10 shooting and had three assists while Tsartsidze with 16 and Jalun Trent with 14 rounded out the double-digit scoring efforts for the Hawks. North Dakota finished with a 49 percent shooting percentage and 40 percent from the three-point line.
 
The Coyotes will get a much-needed week off before their next contest. South Dakota travels to Brookings for the second-round of the South Dakota Showdown next weekend. The game against South Dakota State is scheduled for a 6 p.m. tip from Frost Arena on Saturday.