Feb. 8, 2003

Final Stats

VERMILLION, S.D - The University of Northern Colorado men's basketball team fought even with the 21st ranked South Dakota Coyotes for the game's first 30 minutes but were unable to pull off an upset in front of a crowd of 2,000-plus people at the DakotaDome on Saturday night, falling 86-73.

UNC (9-11, 1-9 NCC) jumped out quickly to a 12-2 lead thanks to five points apiece from Sean Nolen and Vincent Jackson. The Bears held the lead as late as two minutes left in the first half until USD's (17-4, 6-4 NCC) Doug Hanson nailed a three-pointer to give the Coyotes a 31-29 lead, their first of the night. UNC was able to tie the game at 35 late in the half until South Dakota's Tommie King scored with five seconds remaining to give USD a 37-35 halftime advantage.

King, who scored 20 points when the two teams met in January, tied his season-high with 35 points on the night. He was 14-16 from the field and 7-11 from the line in 37 minutes on the night.

UNC grabbed the lead twice in the first 10 minutes of the second half and trailed only 56-51 with 10:52 to play. But a 12-3 Coyote run put South Dakota up 14 and they would never look back, leading by as many as 19 in the final 10 minutes.

Jackson scored a career-high 24 points and grabbed a career-high nine rebounds for UNC. Jackson has been almost unstoppable in UNC's last four games, averaging 18 points a game and setting three new career scoring highs.

Junior James Randle also produced his best game in the Bears' uniform setting career-highs in both points (12) and rebounds (14). Kevin Knudson (13) and Sean Nolen (12) were the other Bears in double figures.

King led USD with his 35 points. Josh Mueller added 13 points and 13 assists for USD. The Coyotes only played six players the entire night.

UNC returns home from its four-game road swing to battle South Dakota State next Thursday night at 7:30 p.m. The matchup will be the first of the season between the two teams.

Game Notes: USD now leads the all-time series 31-20 and have won six in a row versus UNC and seven of the last eight ... UNC was playing without sophomore center Josh Nigut who injured his ankle last Saturday at North Dakota State ... the Coyotes shot 58.2% from the field to UNC's 41.7% ... the Bears connected on only 6-24 (25%) from three-point range ... USD, the nation's top free-throw shooting team, hit 15-20 (75%) from the line to UNC's 7-11 (63.6%) ... UNC is 0-3 this season versus nationally ranked opponents ... the Bears are 4-6 on Saturday's this season and 1-9 in the new year ... Knudson played in his 99th game as a Bear ... Nolen recorded eight assists on the night passing Knute Peterson for fifth on the UNC career list (274).