MINNEAPOLIS—South Dakota overcame Minnesota's game-tying tip-in at the end of regulation and a six-point deficit near the end of the first overtime to beat the Gophers 85-81 in double overtime Saturday in front of 10,754 at Williams Arena.

South Dakota ended Minnesota's 47-game, non-conference home winning streak that was the second-longest in the nation to Duke. It was the first win for the Coyotes against Minnesota in a 15-game series that dates back to the 1931-32 season. It was the second win for South Dakota against a Big Ten foe, joining the 1956-57 squad that beat Wisconsin.

"It felt like a Big Ten game in a Big Ten environment," said USD head coachCraig Smith. "I couldn't be more proud of our guys, our staff and everybody who came out to support us tonight. What an amazing environment.

"The intestinal fortitude, the toughness and how far we've come in three weeks, I can't even state it."

The Coyotes (5-3) won their fourth game in a row with the help of three players who grew up less than 90 miles from Williams Arena. Senior forward Eric Robertson (Wayzata, Minn.) tied his career-high with 16 points on 7 of 11 shooting. He scored seven consecutive Coyote points after Minnesota had used an 11-0 run to take its first lead of the second half, 51-50, with 6:35 left in regulation. He hit a jumper to tie the game at 67-67 with seven seconds left in the first overtime that forced double overtime.

"E-Rob was tremendous," said Smith. I've always said E-Rob is a winner and he wanted this so bad. I think he had 100 friends and family here. He's just a tough nut and made a couple of really tough shots off of some pick and semi-pops."
D.J. Davis (Bloomington, Minn.) had career highs of 10 points, nine rebounds and four assists in 41 minutes of work. He also held Gopher senior Joey King to 17 points on 4 of 11 shooting, including a 0 of 3 mark from beyond the arc. King had hit 22 of 39 three-pointers in seven games entering Saturday's contest.

"We didn't take D.J. out in the second half," said Smith. "He was our best man. We put him on King, who is such a difference maker. He's shooting 56 percent from the 3 making three a game. Every time he was in, we were going to keep D.J. in. When he came out, we took D.J. out to give him his break. Well guess what, he didn't come out the second half and neither did D.J."

Casey Kasperbauer led South Dakota in scoring with 17 points. He made two free throws with 7.2 seconds left in overtime two to give the Coyotes an 83-80 lead. He hit two more with 3.2 seconds left to ice it. Kasperbauer made three of South Dakota's six 3-pointers during the game.

South Dakota point guard Shy McClelland made two free throws with 10 seconds left in regulation to give the Coyotes a 59-57 lead. Minnesota freshman forward Jordan Murphy, who tied the game at 57 moments earlier, tipped in his own miss near the buzzer to force overtime.

Murphy scored 19 points and had a season-high 17 rebounds before fouling out early in the second overtime. McClelland had 14 points for the Coyotes and added seven rebounds and a season-best nine assists.

All five Coyote starters scored in double figures. South Dakota shot 46 percent from the field, including a 10 of 15 effort in the two overtimes, to overcome the Gophers' 27-13 advantage in points from the free-throw line. Minnesota made 7 of 26 from the field in the second half, but erased a six-point halftime deficit by making 16 of 21 free throws.

Dan Jech (Rochester, Minn.), the third local kid, scored six points off the Coyote bench in 14 minutes of work. Senior guard Trey Norris had South Dakota's other eight bench points. His final rebound with four seconds left in double overtime gave him a career-high seven.

South Dakota led 35-29 at halftime behind 12 points from senior guardTre Burnette, who finished with 14. Davis didn't miss a shot in the first half where he had seven points.

A 3 by Kasperbauer with 12 minutes left in the second half gave the Coyotes' their largest lead at 50-40. A layup by Kevin Dorsey, who had 15 points off Minnesota's bench, tied the game at 50 with seven minutes left in regulation.

Dorsey hit a 3 to give Minnesota (5-3) its largest lead at 67-61 with 1:35 left in the first overtime. Kasperbauer countered with a layup, Norris scored on a fast break to make it 67-65 with 48 seconds left, and Robertson's jumper erased the lead entirely.

"We started our first overtime slow," said Smith. "We were down six with a minute 30 to go and we go six unanswered and get a stop on the last possession, and then it just felt like we were going to win this thing."

South Dakota scored on its final four possessions of the game.

A 3 by McClelland gave the Coyotes a 79-78 lead with 1:14 left. Burnette answered a Charles Buggs' bucket with 35 seconds left to make it 81-80. Norris rebounded Nate Mason's long 3-point try on the ensuing possession to give way to Kasperbauer's free throws.

South Dakota returns home to host Kansas City (5-3) at 7 p.m. Tuesday inside the DakotaDome.

*** Information provided by USD Sports Information Bryan Boettcher

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