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Garret Covington

Western Illinois WIU 8-20

South Dakota USD 24-8

Western Illinois WIU

8-20

Final

Mar. 04, 2017

South Dakota USD

24-8

Score By Periods
Team	1	2	OT 1	F
Western Illinois WIU	37	31	1	69
South Dakota USD	37	31	10	78

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | Saturday, March 04, 2017 | WIU Athletic Communications

Top-Seeded South Dakota Edges Leatherneck Men's Basketball in Overtime Thriller

Senior guard Garret Covington scored a game-high 25 points to lead WIU

PHOTOS

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Western Illinois men's basketball dropped an overtime thriller Saturday evening (March 4) to the top-seeded South Dakota Coyotes, 78-69, in the opening round of The Summit League Championships.

After the two teams were tied up 37-37 at halftime, USD used the first six minutes of the second half to build its lead up to nine points, 52-43. WIU would spend the next nine minutes chipping away at the Coyotes' advantage and eventually knotted the game up 63-63 with four minutes to play in regulation.

South Dakota and Western then exchanged field goals before USD's Matt Mooney broke the tie by draining a 3-pointer with 32 seconds left, forcing WIU to call a timeout.

The Leathernecks responded in dramatic fashion when freshman C.J. Duff drilled a triple from the corner with around 10 seconds to play, which proved to be the game-tying shot and sent the game to overtime.

The Coyotes were able to grab an early lead and the momentum in overtime eventually grabbing the quarterfinals victory.

"When you're down nine points, you have to get stops. And to our kids' credit, they kept fighting defensively and got the stops that we needed. We also made shots to send it into overtime," said head coach Billy Wright after the loss. "It was a hard-fought game, hats off to South Dakota, they're a great team, but like we say, it's not who you play or where you play, it's how you play. We proved that we could compete, but that's only the beginning. We have to compete and win, and that's the next step for us."

WIU finishes its season 8-20 overall and South Dakota improves to 24-8, advancing to the semifinals after the win. Matt Mooney led South Dakota with 24 points followed by Tyler Flack's 19 points.

Senior Garret Covington led all scorers with 25 points. The Edwardsville, Ill. also led the team with six assists and grabbed three rebounds.

Also scoring 10-plus points was fellow senior Mike Miklusak who recorded 10 points to go along with his 10 rebounds and freshman C.J. Duff who finished with 12 points and six boards.

Sophomore center Brandon Gilbeck pulled down a team-best 11 rebounds and tied his career high in blocks with five. His five blocks put him at 85 for the year, a new Western Illinois program record for blocks in a season.

"I can't say enough about the three seniors, the loyalty they showed to me, my program and the university," said Wright about Covington, Miklusak and Jabari Sandifer. "Obviously, going through a coaching change, and although there was some familiarity with that because I recruited them, it was a somewhat different philosophy in terms of the way we wanted to play and the culture and foundation that I wanted to implement. They did a great job echoing that. I'm really, really proud to coach them."