VERMILLION, SD – The Mayville State University Comets took to the road Saturday afternoon to Vermillion, S.D., where they squared off against NCAA D-1 opponent from The Summit League, the University of South Dakota (USD) Coyotes, at the Sanford Coyote Sports Center in Vermillion. The Coyotes led at both breaks, defeating Mayville State 96-60, in exhibition play.

"We battled hard, I really liked our aggressiveness on offense," Comets head coach Darren Tighe said. "This was a great opportunity for us to gauge where we were at, and you can definitely see the improvements we have made since playing NDSU."

The Coyotes took an early 6-0 lead, before Rene Melendez was able to get the Comets on the board, with a jumper off a Jalen Valverde rebound, just over two minutes into the contest. The Comets continued to battle, going on an eventual 6-0 run of their own, tying the game less than four minutes in as Max Cooper and Tobyn Lawson each had a layup.

The Coyotes' Stanley Umude fought back, giving his team a two-point lead less than 30 seconds later, but Cooper responded right away, tying the game at 8-8 with 15:38 to go in the first half of play.
USD then built a 16-8 lead, but Marin Lisica refused to allow that lead to grow to double-digits, as he hit a jumper in the paint with 13:07 to go, bringing the game to within six points.

USD did make it a ten-point game, with 11:50 to go in the half, on a jumper by Tyler Peterson. But, Mayville State, in fine fashion, cut the lead to eight on a pair of Thomas Gieske free-throws.

A 7-2 run with just over nine minutes left put the Coyotes ahead 29-14, but Melendez was able to stop the bleeding with 8:12 to go. Latrelle Franklin added a jumper 20 seconds later, cutting the lead to 29-18. Melendez then went and sunk a pair of free-throws with 7:13 to go in the half, pulling the Comets to within single digits, 29-20, with 7:13 to go in the first half.

USD closed out the first half on an 8-4 run over the last 96 seconds, taking a lead of 51-30 at the break.

Mayville State's Cooper brought it to within 21 points with less than two minutes gone in the second half, but that's as close as the Comets would get. Back-to-back threes by Gieske and Malachi Wharry brought the Comets to within 35 points with 2:39 left, but it was too much, as the Coyotes went away with the win.

Cooper led the way for Mayville State with 12 points, while Melendez added 10 points.

The Coyotes played well with the ball offensively, only committing four turnovers. Mayville State shot 39.3 percent from the field in both halves, shooting 11-for-28. The Comets were perfect from the free-throw line in the first half, only missing three in the second half, finishing with a free-throw percentage of 81.3 percent.

Mayville State will take on the University of Maine-Fort Kent on Sunday at 7 p.m. at the Lewy Lee Fieldhouse.