GAME NOTES: The South Dakota State Jackrabbits shoot for their third appearance in the conference title game in the last four years as they clash with the South Dakota Coyotes in the semifinals of the 31st annual Summit League Tournament at the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center.

The top-seeded Jackrabbits, winners of the 2012 and 2013 tournament titles, won their quarterfinal matchup versus eighth-seeded Western Illinois on Saturday by a score of 87-50, earning them a spot against in-state rival USD.

The fifth-seeded Coyotes waited until yesterday to play their first game in this year's event, taking out IPFW rather convincingly by a score of 82-73 in order to advance.

During the regular season the teams split their two meetings, with each winning at home. The first encounter took place on Jan. 17 with South Dakota State capturing a 71-57 victory, while the Coyotes returned the favor in the regular-season finale at the end of last month, 80-64.

The winner of this outing will move onto the final on Tuesday night, fighting for an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament against the winner of the Oral Roberts/North Dakota State meeting.

As a team, the Coyotes knocked down an impressive 53.1 percent from the floor, serving up assists on all but seven of their 26 field goals during the double- digit win. Brandon Bos registered a game-high 29 points, converting 5-of-7 out on the perimeter and all but one of his 11 chances at the free-throw line, adding seven rebounds and five assists. Also coming up big were James Hunter and Casey Kasperbauer with 16 and 12 points, respectively, while Tyler Larson came close to a double-double with nine points and just as many rebounds.

Over the last five games, the Coyotes have had a different leading scorer four times, but on the season overall the top threat continues to be Larson who pairs his 14.2 ppg with a team-high 7.8 rpg, not to mention 93 assists which is also first on the unit. Bos pitches in with 13.9 ppg and Kasperbauer another 10.1 ppg, the latter being the 3-point specialist with 43.8 percent accuracy (78-of-178).

Against Western Illinois a few days back, the Jacks opened on a 15-2 run and never looked back, shooting 56.3 percent from the floor in the first half, including 7-of-12 behind the 3-point line, establishing a massive 50-21 edge at the break, en route to the 37-point victory. Because the game was never in doubt, SDSU spread the wealth by inserting nine reserves into the meeting, which is why the leading scorer, George Marshall, tallied only 13 points. Deondre Parks and Keaton Moffitt accounted for 12 and 11 points, respectively.

Against the rest of the Summit League this season, the Jackrabbits have outscored the competition by 11.0 ppg, having knocked down an impressive 41.2 percent from beyond the arc. Larson, who leads the group with 15.4 ppg, maintained his presence in the paint, resulting in 7.7 rpg, but Parks (14.2 ppg), Marshall (13.2 ppg) and Jake Bittle (10.6 ppg) each made good on better than 41 percent on the outside, giving the group plenty of weapons to choose from.

With some added time to recover from their quarterfinal-round outing, the Jacks definitely have the edge in this meeting because they didn't even get winded the last time out.