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Iowa beats South Dakota 87-75 to open NIT

Sports

March 16th, 2017 by Ric Hanson

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Freshmen Jordan Bohannon scored 19 points with 11 assists, fellow newcomer Tyler Cook scored 18 with eight rebounds and Iowa opened the NIT with an 87-75 win over South Dakota on Wednesday. Senior Peter Jok had 20 to lead the Hawkeyes (19-14), one of four top seeds in the 32-team event.

Iowa couldn’t quite shake South Dakota, which excelled at crashing the offensive glass and getting to the free-throw line. But the Hawkeyes finally took a double-digit lead on Ahmad Wagner’s layup with 8:31 left, and Wagner’s layup a minute later made it 68-54.

Bohannon’s 3 with just over a minute left put Iowa ahead 82-70. Iowa, one of the last four teams left out of the NCAA Tournament, got 59 points from first-year-players — with Isaiah Moss adding 16. Matt Mooney had 23 points for the Coyotes (22-12), who earned an NIT bid after winning the Summit League regular-season crown.