Men's Basketball

Late push lifts Omaha into semifinals with win over South Dakota

The Basics
Score: No. 5 Omaha 76, No. 4 South Dakota 62
Records: South Dakota (16-16, 8-8 SL), Omaha (16-16, 8-8 SL)
Location: Denny Sanford PREMIER Center - Sioux Falls, S.D.

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – No. 5 seed Omaha broke open a tight contest in the final 10 minutes, defeating No. 4 seed South Dakota 76-62 in Friday's opening quarterfinal of the Summit League Men's Basketball Championship at the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center. Seniors Ja'Sean Glover and Lance Waddles combined for more than half of the Mavericks points as they took the first step towards defending their 2025 tournament title.  

Glover finished with a game-high 25 points, while Waddles added 18 in the win over the Coyotes, who had defeated the Mavericks twice during the regular season.

Waddles made a pair of 3-pointers in the opening six minutes to stake the Mavericks to a 10-2 lead but the Coyotes quickly answered with back-to-back treys of their own and a pair of free throws from Vince Buzelis over a 90-second stretch that squared things back up.

Graduate student Silas Bennion gave the Coyotes' offense a spark early, scoring 11 first-half points to go past his season high in the opening 20 minutes. Bennion went 4-for-5 from the floor, while the rest of his teammates went just 5-for-25.

The teams trade mini-runs over the remainder of the half before Waddles connected on his third trey of the half to put the Mavericks in front 34-31 at the break.  Waddles finished with 13 first-half points, while Ja'Sean Glover contributed 10. Omaha's leading scorer Paul Djobet could only muster one basket but pulled down nine first-half rebounds. He would finish with seven points and a career-high 14 boards. 

After the break, the back-and-forth continued with South Dakota taking its first lead of the game on a 3-pointer by Crawford at the 11:08 mark. The lead would be short-lived and be the only one for the Coyotes, who went only 7-for-20 from the field down the stretch.

The Mavericks would outscored the Coyotes 33-18 after Crawford's three with Glover accounting for 15 of those.

Omaha will play top-seeded North Dakota State in Saturday’s first men's semifinal at 7 p.m. CT on CBS Sports Network.

Turning Point
After USD took its only lead of the game with 11:08 to play, Glover scored the Mavericks' next eight points and they never trailed again. 
 
Inside the Box Score 
  • Glover finished one off his career-high going for 25 -- he scored 26 on Senior Night in a win over Oral Roberts on Feb. 18.
  • Freshman Vince Buzelis put together his first career double-double for the Coyotes with 16 points and 12 rebounds, while classmate Jesse McIntosh added 14 points off the bench.
  • Omaha senior Julian Margrave did not score in his last four Summit League appearances but went for 11 in the victory, including a trio of makes from distance.
  • The Coyotes, who played without starting point guard Uzziah Buntyn after he was injured in their regular season finale, were held to a 31 percent shooting clip (20-for-64) and went just 13-for-22 from the foul line.
News & Notes
  • These two teams met in the 2025 semifinals with top-seeded Omaha defeating the fifth-seeded Coyotes 100-75. The only other meeting came in 2018 when South Dakota won a quarterfinal tilt in 2018 en route to the Coyotes' only title-game appearance.
  • The Mavericks will make their third straight appearance in the semifinals and have won at least one game in four straight postseason trips.
  • The Coyotes fall to 7-14 all-time in the tournament.
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