(01/31) USD men vs. North Dakota

Man, it feels so long since I’ve blogged from the DakotaDome.

But we’re back at it today for the University of South Dakota men and North Dakota. The Coyotes (16-5) won have 13 straight games, including a 98-77 pasting of the Sioux last Saturday in Grand Forks, N.D.

In this series, USD has claimed 12 of the last 13 matchups, with the one hiccup coming in last year’s North Central Conference Tournament here in Vermillion.

An impressive crowd for both games today. The first 500 USD students were given white T-shirts with the hope the Dome would be “whited out” today. And remember, today’s game is being televised by Midcontinent, so there’s even more of a “big game” feel. But the players didn’t need any added motivation to play hard.

It’s go time.

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USD gets a pair of baskets from junior Tyler Cain and a three from senior Jesse Becker to go up 7-2, but the Sioux respond with a three-pointer from O.J. Harrison and a put-back from Travis Mertens. Dylan Grimsley also got a layup for the Coyotes, who lead 9-8 at the under 16 timeout.

Mitch Begeman strokes a three for USD and Becker later hits one to give the Coyotes a 17-12 lead. Cain just scored again inside. Cain gets another bucket off a nice spin move in the lane, prompting UND to call a timeout. It’s 21-12 Coyotes at the 12:19 mark.

You know it’s a big game when the cheerleaders, dance team and marching band show up.

In the women’s game, North Dakota won 68-55.

Cain already has 12 points for USD, and Becker just hit his third NBA-range three-pointer. Daniel Harkins for UND has eight points and four nearly identical drives to the hoop. USD freshman Louie Krogman just drained a three at the 8:37 mark, and UND coach Brian Jones calls another timeout. The Coyote lead is 31-16.

There’s a dude over in the USD student section wearing a penguin costume. Not sure what to say.

The 9-0 USD run ends when Mertens scores at the 5:30 mark, but Becker has five straight points. The Coyote margin is up to 18 (39-21). After the Sioux score three straight baskets, USD had the ball with under 30 seconds left in the half. Becker dribbled the ball around and got a running layup with under 3 seconds left. He then got a steal on the inbounds and put in another layup off the glass at the halftime buzzer.

HALF: USD 48, North Dakota 27.

Becker has scored 21 points already — his average is 13.1 — with 12 coming in the final five minutes of the half. Cain has 14 points for USD, while Grimsley has six points and six rebounds. The Coyotes hit 6-of-11 threes in the half, and 56 percent overall.

North Dakota got eight points from Harkins and Mertens, and shot 38 percent overall.

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The Sioux have come out firing in the second half. Darius Joseph hits a couple of layups, followed by back-to-back threes. USD coach Dave Boots calls a timeout, with his team up 50-37 at the 16:51 mark.

USD has started to put it together in the second half, but the Sioux are hanging tough. Coyote reserve Roman Gentry just hit a pair of free throws for his first points, after scoring 26 against UND last Saturday. The Sioux respond with layups from Joseph and Harkins. Things got a tad scrappy on a tie-up, but the Coyotes call a timeout.

Harkins scores again on another easy drive to the basket, and Joseph gets a steal in the open court and scores. The Coyote lead, which was 21 at halftime, has been trimmed to six. USD is up 57-51 with 11:06 to play.

UND cut the margin to 57-52 before Grimsley hit a jumper at the 9:10 mark. It was USD’s first field goal since Cain hit an early basket in the half. The USD students have really gotten on the UND bench the last few minutes, which is odd, considering those guys at the very end aren’t playing. Regardless, gotta love the enthusiasm.

Becker hits a pair of free throws and Steve Smith follows with a jumper off the glass, but UND’s Travis Bledsoe strokes a three right front of the UND bench. USD leads 63-55.

Pretty weird series. Grimsley runs the baseline and dunks one home, a play that got the Dome crowd roaring. But Bledsoe quiets them briefly with a deep three. On USD’s next time down the court, a UND player goes diving out off bounds for a loose ball, but Becker calmly picks it up and drains a three. Becker now has 27 points and USD leads 69-60 with 3:57 to play.

Krogman finds the stroke for a three in the corner, giving USD a 72-60 lead with under 3 to play. Down 13, the Sioux trimmed the lead to 73-65, but Gentry responds with a bucket. Harrison of UND scores at the 1:09 mark, but the Coyotes are headed to the free throw line again.

This one is over, folks.

Still, the Sioux are hanging tough. They get a basket and a field goal to pull within nine points with 39.4 to play. Grimsley hits a free throw, and UND’s Pat Mitchell gets a dunk. Gentry puts the Coyotes ahead 82-72 with a pair of free throws, but Harrison drains a three with 22.7 left.

The Coyote margin is 82-75.

Four free throws down the stretch seal the 86-75 win for the Coyotes. Becker finishes with 31.

FINAL: USD 86, UND 75.

That’s all from the DakotaDome. The Coyotes are now 17-5 and have won 14 straight games.

Baseball Talk Enough To Warm Up A Cold Winter Day

There is nothing to warm up a cold day like talking baseball. Having had that opportunity twice this week, I’ve been feeling pretty warm of late.

Tuesday, of course, was the Minnesota Twins winter caravan stop in Yankton. Because it was just a quick stop-over at WNAX, the local Twins radio affiliate, the event was not open to the public, meaning that there was a lot more one-on-one time with the Twins people who came down.

What you learn on a day like that is, as much as people like Tony Oliva, Dick Bremer, Jason Kubel and Denard Span may be famous — regionally, if not nationally — they are still pretty down-to-earth people.

One of the organizers brought kuchen and kolaches from a local business, and Bremer called and thanked the business owner, talking to him for around five minutes. While Kubel drew the most attention — several relatives from the area showed up at the station — all four were more than happy to have a casual conversation with whoever wanted to talk.

In fact, the most arrogant thing — and I wouldn’t even call it that — that was said was Span commenting that he never wanted to see a minor league ballpark again, at least as a player. I don’t know about you, but I would want that out of a young man who was able to take advantage of a break — Michael Cudduyer’s “break” last year — and is willing to do the work to prove he belongs.

Later in the week, I sat down with Mount Marty baseball coach Andy Bernatow for a look at the 2009 season, which begins just one week from today.

While he admits the team “took a step back” in 2008 after coming just one win away from an NAIA regional berth in 2007, they have worked hard and added a lot of new pieces that should help the team get back in the top half of the Great Plains Athletic Conference in 2009.

MMC won’t play a home game for a while — March 21 with the conference opener against Dana, the 22nd game of the season, to be precise — but start next week with two games in the Metrodome, followed by three trips south — two weekends and one spring break — before getting into a league slate.

While Bernatow, a good friend since back when the donned the Blue and Gold as a player, is a promoter at heart — and I know that — it was still hard not to get caught up in his excitement about the team.

The last time I wrote about spring fever, we got a blizzard … in April. I’m hoping Mother Nature got that out of her system and we’re in for a nice spring.

Back With The Jacks

Last weekend, the Press & Dakotan did something that hasn’t been done in at least five years. We sent someone up to Brookings for a South Dakota State event, the Jackrabbit women’s basketball game with North Dakota State.

Actually, if you look at it, it might be something we’ve never done. (I say “might” because I wasn’t involved in the first 118 years of the publication, so I’m not sure about it.)

Yes, we have covered SDSU games in Brookings before, but I don’t ever remember us covering a SDSU game against anyone other than their rivals to the south, the University of South Dakota. We have covered track meets and such that involved SDSU in other places, but never a home event with someone other than the Coyotes, at least in my brief 16 years at 319 Walnut.

We did not do a regular game story. Jeremy Hoeck, my very capable assistant, went up to Brookings to double-dip on a couple of player features, SDSU junior and Yankton native Ketty Cornemann, and NDSU sophomore and Parker native Abby Plucker.

I have made a couple of trips to Brookings over the years — mostly State-U football games, as well as a first-round NCAA Division II region game. Those trips stopped when SDSU made the jump to NCAA Division I and quit playing the Coyotes in the “major” sports, i.e. football and basketball.

Now that USD has begun its transition to Division I and trying to get into the same league as SDSU — The Summit League — hopefully we can start making Brookings a regular stop.

Listen to Press & Dakotan assistant sports editor Jeremy Hoeck and 1450 KYNT’s Brady Donovin on “Breakfast With The Coaches,” live from Yesterday’s Cafe, today beginning at 9 a.m.

TGIF Linkage 01/30

** As noted in today’s feature story on Yankton’s Ketty Cornemann, there was a New York Times reporter at last Saturday’s NDSU vs. SDSU women’s game. You can read Pat Borzi’s story right here.

** Darn the media. The University of Washington football program could be in trouble for allowing a Los Angeles Times reporter to attend a recruiting meeting. Whoops.

** So, Houston men’s coach Tom Penders actually believes that ESPN “doctored” footage of Aubrey Coleman stepping on the face of Arizona’s Chase Budinger. Are you kidding me, coach?

** Why do you need 11 people for a Super Bowl pregame show? Actually, if you include Bob Costas, it’s more like ten and a half. Still.

** Pat O’Brien might join ESPN?

** Check out the 9 Most Hilariously Awkward David Letterman Moments.

** Move over, Ben Woodside of North Dakota State. Utah Valley’s Ryan Toolson scored a record 63 points in leading his Wolverines to a 123-121 four-overtime win over Chicago State Thursday night. Poor Chicago State: You have two players score at least 40 points and still lose. The Great West Conference could be fun next season.

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TGIF Recommended Tune

This morning, I heard “Learn To Fly” by the Foo Fighters on the radio. And so when I got back, I was instantly buying it on iTunes. Here’s a YouTube video with the lyrics.

If you want to watch the actual music video, click here.

Twins Stop In Yankton

You know, it’s not very often that I get up at 7:30 in the morning. But then again, it’s not very often that you have the chance to chat with the Minnesota Twins.

Bright and early Tuesday morning, four members of the Twins’ staff made a brief stop at WNAX radio station as part of the team’s annual Winter Caravan. They were there to record some quick radio spots, as well as to chat with some of the station employees and others.

Making the stop were outfielder Denard Span, designated hitter Jason Kubel, TV broadcaster Dick Bremer and former star Tony Oliva.

Here’s what they had to say.

Span on the end of 2008: “It started off rough, but shortly after that, it was more like a storybook ending. Sad moments in the beginning but as the year went on, it got better. I couldn’t have asked for anything better.”

Span on the crowded outfield: “All of us are good and talented and deserve to be on the field. That can only push us to be better and try harder. Maybe at the end of it, there might be one guy who isn’t happy, but I don’t think that’ll last the whole season. I think it’ll work its way out.”

Kubel on the end of 2008: “It was a pretty disappointing not to make it to the playoffs, but that’s given us more motivation over the winter. We all got that taste of a pennant run, and we want that feeling again. We’ve got mostly the same guys, so I don’t see why we can’t do it all again.”

Kubel on the crowded outfield: “Having that many guys is maybe a good problem to have. It’ll definitely be a battle in spring training, but whatever happens, the team will still be really good. It’s better to have a lot of good options then none at all, I suppose.”

Bremer on the young pitching staff: “They all learned an awful lot last year. I think we’ll see Gardenhire and Rick Anderson expecting a little bit more from these guys. Maybe they’ll go 7 or 8 innings. One of the things that happened last year was that the relievers kind of ran out of gas. The hope is these guys can consume more of the workload.”

Four More Commitments For USD Football

Came across a few USD football-related items on the ‘Net tonight:

** Marian Central High School (Ill.) offensive lineman Cody O’Neill gave the Coyotes a verbal commitment after visiting campus two weekends ago.

O’Neill (6-foot-3, 285) saw time on the offensive and defensive line as a starter his junior and senior years, and started at guard as a sophomore. He comes from a school that has produced Division I players at Iowa, Notre Dame and Wisconsin within the last three years. Other schools on O’Neill’s list were Eastern Illinois, Illinois State, Miami (Ohio) and Northern Illinois.

** Chamberlain (Fla.) defensive backs Chris Frierson and Rico Valdez also committed to USD, the Tampa Tribune reported Saturday. The duo joins teammate Dametrius Turner, who verballed to USD last week.

Turner, also a defensive back, has a highlight video right here.

FYI, National Signing Day is next Wednesday, Feb. 4.