Denver beats South Dakota 66-52

Jan 28, 2016, 11:49 pm

DENVER -- Freshman Thomas Neff scored a career-high 16 points, draining 4 of 8 3-point shots, and Denver snapped a three-game losing skid with a 66-52 defeat of South Dakota on Thursday night.

Marcus Byrd added 14 points and Joe Rosga 13 for Denver. The Pioneers (11-10, 3-5 Summit) never trailed and led by as many as 19 when Byrd pump-faked and then scored an easy jumper to make the lead 61-42 with 4:41 left to play.

South Dakota's Shy McClelland cut the gap to 32-28 with a basket five minutes into the second half, but Neff responded with a 3-pointer at the other end of the floor and the lead was up to 42-28 after a 10-0 run.

D.J. Davis had 12 points to lead South Dakota (10-12, 2-6), which lost five of its last six games. The Coyotes made two 3-pointers to 10 for Denver.