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• MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) -- With the help of a former Kansas State player, South Dakota made it a decent game against No. 25 Wildcats on the afternoon of New Year's Eve.
• The leading scorer for South Dakota after transferring from Kansas State, guard Juevol Myles scored 13 points. Nine of those came in the second half.
• With less than eight minutes to play, the Coyotes only trailed Kansas State by five.
• Ultimately, though, South Dakota could not keep up with Kansas State, and the Wildcats defeated the Coyotes 70-50.
• "Good game for about 30 minutes, and then they really turned it up and turned us over," South Dakota coach Dave Boots said. "I was proud of our kids that we got off to a slow start and they came back and hung in there in the second half and had a good battle."
• Nino Williams scored 16 points for the Wildcats, and Rodney McGruder added 15. Karim Rowson led the Coyotes with 14 points, six of which came from free throws.
• A significant portion of Myles' scoring also came from getting to the charity stripe. Throughout the game he drew fouls while attacking the rim, and he also caused some trouble for Kansas State ball handlers.
• "I thought Juevol played pretty well - not just on the offensive end," Boots said. "He had five steals, so I thought he competed defensively. I'm sure it was fun for him to play against those guys. I thought he had a pretty good game for us."
• Though the point guards got their points, South Dakota needed more production from its post players. Outrebounded by 15, the Coyotes (6-9) struggled on the boards and shot 32.7 percent from the floor.
• Kansas State (11-2) entered halftime with a 12-point lead, but South Dakota cut that advantage in half before the Wildcats pulled away late.
• The Coyotes started the second half with an 11-5 run. They trailed 37-29 when Trevor Gruis went to the free throw line with 15:13 to play and a chance to cut Kansas State's lead to just six points. He made both.
• The teams traded baskets as the half continued, and South Dakota stayed close. With fewer than eight minutes to play, the Wildcats led 44-39.
• "We screened better," Boots said. "We didn't have very good movement the first half with our four and five and got that going a little bit better the second half. We got

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