'Dons Put Perfect Home Record on Line Against Coyotes

PREGAME NOTES

FORT WAYNE, Ind. - The IPFW Mastodons put their 6-0 home record on the line on Thursday night when the squad hosts the South Dakota Coyotes in a 7 p.m. tip-off at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum.

Opponent: South Dakota Coyotes (7-11, 3-3 Summit League)
When: Thursday, January 17, 2013 | 7 p.m.
Where: Fort Wayne, Ind. | Allen County War Memorial Coliseum (5,200)
Radio: ESPN Radio 1380 AM; Kent Hormann, play-by-play; Jeff Parrish, analyst
Live Stats: IPFW Live Stats
Streaming Video: IPFW All-Access

SCOUTING THE COYOTES

The Coyotes come into the game after having split their last two games, winning at home against South Dakota State by a 90-86 final score, and then falling at home to Kansas City 90-86.

In their loss to Kansas City, Juevol Myles scored 24 points to lead the Coyotes, while Brandon Bos scored 19, Trevor Gruis 14, and Karim Rowson 12. Bos pulled down a team-leading seven rebounds, while also dishing out four assists to pace the squad.

This season the 'Yotes are paced by Myles who puts up 15.4 points per game, as Gruis and Rowson are each averaging double-figures at 11.4 and 10.3 points per game, each. Bos is just off of the double-figure pace, averaging 9.9, with Casey Kasperbauer pouring in 8.2.

South Dakota gets out-rebounded by an average of 5.1 rebounds per game, and is led by Gruis' 5.8 boards per contest, with Rowson and Tyler Flick averaging 4.7 and 4.5. Myles dishes out 3.1 assists per game, while also leading the team with 28 steals.

LAST TIME AGAINST THE COYOTES

The IPFW offense scored 84 points, the team's fifth highest scoring output of the season; however, the total was not able to match that of South Dakota, who scored 93 points, the most allowed by IPFW this season, as the Mastodons fell to the Coyotes 93-84 on Thursday evening, setting up a winner-take-all game against UMKC on Saturday.

Tonight's game saw Frank Gaines reach the 30-point plateau for the third time in the past four games, converting on 10-of-21 shots from the field and 3-of-7 from long range, while Trey McCorkle scored 18, and Joe Edwards added 10. Jonny Marlin just missed double-figure scoring with nine points while Michael Kibiloski scored a half-dozen.

Gaines pulled down a game-high-tying eight rebounds, as the Mastodons narrowly out-rebounded the Coyotes 32-to-31. Marlin dished out five assists, with Jason Smeathers giving out four helpers in the loss.

IPFW came bolting out of the gate, and behind a pair of Gaines three-pointers, raced ahead to an 8-2 lead through the first three minutes of the game. Leading by seven at 11-4 after a Marlin three-pointer, USD scored the game's next eight points to lead by one at 12-11.

The lead changed hands four more times before the hosts pulled ahead by six on a 9-2 run, and wouldn't trail again until late in the first half when Gaines converted on a three-point play, giving IPFW a 42-41 lead, but the advantage would be short-lived, as Charlie Westbrook scored three of his game-high 35 points on a three-pointer with two seconds left in the half, giving the hosts a 44-42 lead at halftime.

USD opened the second half with a 12-4 run to lead by 10, and would not trail again in the game. Three times the Mastodons would close the gap to four, but could not climb fully back in to the game, dropping the game by a 93-84 final score, as USD made seven of its last eight free throws down the stretch to ice the game.

The Mastodons made over 50 percent of their shots for the second straight game and ninth time overall (34-of-64 / 53.1 percent) but USD converted on 22 free throws to just eight for IPFW in the loss.

Westbrook scored his 35 points behind 14-of-14 shooting from the charity stripe, and 9-of-18 from the field, while Louis Krogman scored 20 and Trevor Gruis added 13.

ALL-TIME SERIES
Last season the Coyotes and Mastodons split their two meetings, each team winning at home. The Mastodons won 92-87 in Fort Wayne behind Frank Gaines' 26 points, as South Dakota's Trevor Guis scored 29. Later in the season in Vermillion, South Dakota, the Coyotes evened the score with a 93-84 win, as Frank Gaines scored 30, but was out-dueled by USD's Charlie Westbrook who scored 35.

QUICK HITTERS

• IPFW is 6-0 at home this season

• IPFW senior Frank Gaines currently has 1,547 career points, second most in a career in IPFW history, and needs 219 more to move into the career lead, passing Sean Gibson (1989-93) who has 1,765 over his career.

• Gaines is also 23 points away from climbing into the top-30 all-time in Summit League history in scoring.

• As of the latest NCAA Rankings (January 13), IPFW ranks 70th in steals per game (8.3), and 78th in rebounding margin (+4.4), while Frank Gaines ranks 33rd in scoring (18.8 points per game)

• Frank Gaines has reached double-figure scoring 71 times in his career and 33 20-point games, but saw his 27-game

double-figure streak snapped against Miami (Ohio). His previous time being held to single digits was December 20, 2011 against Purdue.

• Against Judson, IPFW set single-game school records for fewest points allowed (22), and largest margin of victory (70 points)

• Earlier this year in a triple-overtime win over Texas-Pan America, IPFW set single-game school records with 57 free throw attempts, while the team's 63 rebounds are the second-most in school history.

• IPFW is 1-8 all-time on January 17

• Nine of ten IPFW players who have seen action this season have started at least one game

• IPFW is 6-1 this season when leading at halftime, and are 15-5 under Jasick when leading after the first 20 minutes.

• Tony Jasick is the 13th youngest head coach in NCAA Division I

• Six different players have led the team in scoring this season (including ties), led by Gaines, who has led the team nine times

• Gaines also stands second in career school history in free throws made and attempted, fourth in rebounding, 7th in

blocked shots and 8th in steals

• The Mastodons have out-rebounded 12-of-19 teams this season, and are 6-6 when out-rebounding their opponents

~ Feel the Rumble ~

Purdue University Fort Wayne Athletics

'Dons Put Perfect Home Record on Line Against Coyotes

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