VERMILLION, S.D.—It was a tale of two halves as the Bellarmine Knights led the opening 20 minutes pretty much wire-to-wire, but a disappointing second half allowed the host South Dakota Coyotes to storm back for a 78-64 victory on Wednesday night at the Sanford Coyote Sports Center.
 
Bellarmine shot a blistering 54 percent and committed just one turnover in the first 20 minutes to build a 38-35 halftime advantage, but the second half was a different story as the Knights hit just eight of 28 second half shots and turned the ball over 12 times.  The end result was South Dakota outscoring the Knights 43-26 in the second period for the 14-point victory.
 
Bellarmine Coach Scott Davenport said, "We were dominated every way we could be dominated…and the numbers don't lie. I'd be hard-pressed to find a game in memory where I've been more disappointed in every aspect of this game:  coaching, playing, execution, effort."  
 
One of the few bright spots came with less than a minute remaining in the game when CJ Fleming drilled a 3-pointer to give him 16 points in the contest and an even 1,000 points in his career.  Fleming becomes the first Knight to reach the milestone in the Division I era, and the 42^nd player in program history to score 1,000 points.
 
South Dakota (7-4) was paced by Xavier Fuller, who led all scorers with 20 points.  Kruz Perrot-Hunt added 19 for the Coyotes who outshot the Knights 47 to 41 percent for the game.
 
Bellarmine (5-7) got 19 points from Dylan Penn to lead the way, and Juston Betz hauled in a career-high 10 rebounds and dished out a game-high four assists.  Alec Pfriem joined Fleming and Penn in double digits for the Knights.
 
The Knights return to action on Saturday afternoon when they travel to Oxford, Ohio to take on the Miami RedHawks in a 2 p.m. game.