VERMILLION, S.D. – Kobe Webster and Zion Young were forces to be reckoned with Wednesday (February 12). Combining to score more than half of Western Illinois' points, the two tested the South Dakota men's basketball team all night for 29 and 21, respectively, in an 85-72 loss.
The point tally set a new career-high for Webster.
With both teams in search of their first points on the night, Young delivered a deep 2-pointer at 17:41. The young forward contributed five points in Western's 6-2 advantage, before tagging in Webster to strengthen the lead.
Ten minutes hadn't quite ticked off the clock, but Webster was already a point shy of reaching double-figures. He is the only Leatherneck to score 10-plus in every Summit game this season, and when his team lost its edge on a 10-0 Coyote run, he ended the drought with his 11th point.
The Leathernecks jumped out by as many as 11 before the stretch but saw their lead slimmed to one, 21-20, with 6:09 to go before halftime. They entered the locker room trailing 35-31 after the 'Yotes hit a 3-pointer as time expired.
South Dakota took a 46-35 lead with 16:41 left and maintained a double-digit edge for a majority of the latter half.
Young scored 14 of his points in the latter half and really started to heat up in the closing minutes. He hit back-to-back shots with 4:02 remaining to help in Western's late push (74-64) but fouled out a few minutes later. He also scored 21 in the previous meeting against USD.
This Saturday, Western returns home for the first of two remaining games inside Western Hall. North Dakota will visit first at 7 p.m., and the following Saturday will see Omaha roll into town at 2 p.m.