Defense shines for USD men in sweep at Western

So much for the thought if you hold A.J. Plitzuweit and Stanley Umude in check you can beat South Dakota.
Over the weekend, Western Illinois did a relatively good job on the high-scoring Coyote pair.
But it didn’t matter as USD came into Macomb with a stout defense and a deep roster of players more than willing to pick up the scoring slack, sweeping the Leathernecks 84-75 on Saturday and 65-60 on Friday.
On Friday, the Leathernecks were able to lockdown Umude and Plitzuweit, holding the duo to 5-23 shooting and 17 points.
But Xavier Fuller (14 points, 5-8 shooting) and Tasos Kamateros (7-12, 15 points) delivered the goods on offense and delivered USD the win.
Of course, defense played the biggest factor in the game as South Dakota held Western to 20-59 (33.9 percent) shooting, including 5-20 (25 percent) from three.
On Saturday, both Umude and Plitzuweit were more efficient, combing for 25 points but went 8-21 from the field.
But again, it didn’t matter.
Kamateros was a force on the block, scoring 21 points, Fuller had it going again, finishing with 11 points and Mason Archambault got in on the action, scoring 12 points.
And while the ‘other Coyotes’ did shine, defense was again the story.
South Dakota shut down Western’s offense yet again, holding Western to 25-64 shooting (39.1 percent) from the field, including a paltry 7-31 (22.6 percent) in the first half as USD built a 42-20 lead at the break.
Western would trail by as many as 37 before a late run cut the deficit down to seven but the Coyotes would do what they needed to do to hold on to win.
The sweep sends the Coyotes to 8-6 overall and 6-0 in the Summit as they head home to host Omaha next weekend.