Kansas City Roos men’s basketball beats South Dakota, one win away from 20 this season

The Kansas City Roos men’s basketball team is a win away from a 20-victory season.

Evan Gilyard II led the Roos with 20 points in a 72-63 home victory over South Dakota on Thursday night at Swinney Center, KC’s third victory in a row.

Josiah Allick had 18 points and 12 rebounds for Kansas City (19-10, 12-5 Summit League). Marvin Nesbitt Jr. added 14 points and Arkel Lamar had 13 points and seven rebounds.

Tasos Kamateros had 15 points for the Coyotes (17-11, 10-7), whose four-game win streak was broken. Mason Archambault added 13 points and Hunter Goodrick had 12 points.

The victory clinched a top-four conference finish for the Roos, who finished a season sweep of the Coyotes this season. The Roos haven’t won 19 games since the 1991-92 season and tied the 2004-05 team for the most conference victories with 12.

With one game remaining, at home Saturday against regular-season conference champion South Dakota State (26-4, 17-0), the Roos could finish second, third or fourth in the league.

They are tied with Oral Roberts and North Dakota State for second place. North Dakota State plays last place North Dakota (2-15), while Oral Roberts plays fifth-place South Dakota State. The Roos swept North Dakota State this season but lost both games to Oral Roberts.

Nine game win streak snapped

On the road in Vermillion, the KC Roos women’s nine-game winning streak ended in a 71-49 loss to South Dakota.

The Roos (22-6, 12-5) were led by Brooklyn McDavid’s 15 points and eight rebounds. South Dakota (22-5, 15-1) held the Roos to season-low 33.3% shooting from the field.

KC closes out the regular season Saturday at conference-leading South Dakota State (20-8, 16-1) with the third seed in the Summit League Tournament locked up.

This story was originally published February 24, 2022 at 10:25 PM.