Denver, CO
USD men avenge earlier loss to Denver in another overtime 'thriller'
VERMILLION — Two weeks removed from Denver’s double-overtime home victory over South Dakota in Summit League men’s basketball action, the Coyotes returned the favor.
Behind 27 points from Bostyn Holt, USD grabbed a dramatic 92-86 overtime win over the visiting Pioneers, snapping a five-game losing streak.
Knotted at 86 in overtime, Max Burchill drew a foul with 29 seconds left and buried a pair of free throws to take the lead. Denver missed a layup on the other end, and Paul Bruns sank two free throws to clinch the game.
“What a thriller, man; credit to them, they’re a good team, they can really score it,” USD coach Eric Peterson told Midco Sports in a postgame television interview. “ … I thought we did a good job making them take some tough shots.”
The Coyotes nearly won the game in regulation, as Holt’s traditional three-point play gave them a 79-77 lead with 37 seconds remaining. However, the Pioneers responded with a bucket by Tommy Bruner with 22 seconds left, and Holt’s jumper missed at the horn.
But the USD defense, which allowed 111 points in the double-overtime loss in Colorado, stepped up during extra time, holding the Pioneers to 20 percent from the field and outrebounding them 6-3.
For the game, Denver shot 43.5 percent from the field and 34.5 percent from 3-point range. The Coyotes had their hands full with Bruner, the nation’s leading scorer who dropped in 30 points and Touko Tainamo, who had 21 points.
But USD had plenty of offense of its own to keep itself in the game. Holt’s team-high came on 10-of-26 shooting, while Lahat Thioune added 19 points on 8-of-10 shooting, and Bruns delivered 18 points on four 3-pointers.
Behind 26 combined points from Holt and Bruns, the Coyotes led 46-41 after the first half, but the Pioneers took control of the game in the second half and led 75-70 with four minutes remaining. A Bruns 3-ball, followed by a Thioune layup, tied the game at 75 with two minutes to play, and USD managed to force overtime.
The win, which comes days after the Coyotes showed life in a narrow road loss to South Dakota State, puts USD a game back of Denver and Kansas City for seventh-place in the conference with six regular-season games remaining.
USD is off Saturday, and will visit Omaha at 7 p.m. Feb. 15.
Jacob Nielson is a sports reporter for the Mitchell Republic. He joined the Mitchell Republic in July 2023 after graduating from Utah State University in 2023 with a degree in journalism and minor in history. He covers a variety of prep and collegiate sports throughout South Dakota.
Denverites looking for a stellar cup of Joe don’t need to travel far to savor the flavor of excellent coffee.
That’s according to The World’s 100 Best Coffee Shops, a website that rates global hospitality establishments where coffee lovers can find better brew. The website recently announced its 2026 list of the best coffee shops in North America, Central America and the Caribbean and two local companies made the list.
Sweet Bloom Coffee Roasters came in at No. 43, while Queen City Collective Coffee ranked No. 61. Not bad for a list that includes must-hit destinations in places like Guatemala and Costa Rica, which are known for their exports of coffee beans.
The World’s 100 Best Coffee Shops decided the ranking through a mix of nominations and voting by both the public and experts. Places were evaluated based on the quality of coffee served, barista expertise, ambiance, sustainability practices, and innovation among other criteria, according to the website.
Sweet Bloom Coffee Roasters, which came on the scene in 2013, helped usher the so-called fourth wave of coffee locally, which focuses on honoring the beans’ agricultural roots and using techniques like pour-over to extract more flavor from each brew. The company started with a wholesale roastery and retail shop in Lakewood before expanding to Arvada through a merger with another company called Two Rivers, and later to Westminster. In 2022, Food and Wine magazine named Sweet Bloom’s Westminster locale the best coffee shop in Colorado.
Queen City Collective has certainly earned the popular vote among Mile High City coffee drinkers if the company’s expansion is an indication. Since opening its first retail location in 2018, in a spot shared with Novel Strand Brewing Co., Queen City has expanded to seven locations between Denver and surrounding suburbs, including Wheat Ridge and Aurora.
To see the full list of must-hit coffee shops across the globe, visit theworlds100bestcoffeeshops.com. For additional recommendations, check out our list of Colorado’s best coffee shops with picturesque patios and views.
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DENVER (KDVR) — With the mild winter and warm start to spring, beekeepers are seeing swarms earlier in the year and expect the season to be longer than usual.
Gregg McMahan is a dispatcher for the Colorado Swarm Hotline. It’s usually his job to send a beekeeper to collect a swarm when someone calls, but on Sunday afternoon, he decided to handle one himself.
“Nice little swarm,” McMahan said. “It’s tricky, though, because it’s hanging on a fence.”
A warm winter and spring mean swarm season has begun four weeks early.
“Never seen it like this ever,” McMahan said.
This call is to a house on Denver’s east side. When McMahan arrived, he saw a swarm had taken up residence on the fence.
“Absolutely typical, it is on the small side,” McMahan said.
He got to work, first luring them into a box when he spotted a good sign.
“See all these girls, they got their butts up, they’re fanning their wings. That’s telling us the queens in here,” McMahan said.
With the queen in hand, the rest began to follow her into the box.
McMahan said two years ago, he had 400 calls like this. Last year, only 100, the Swarm Hotline was as unpredictable as the weather, which has caused bee activity earlier in the year than ever.
“It makes it hard on the bees, you know? Two days ago, I’m collecting swarms in the snow,” McMahan said.
Rescuing them is integral to Colorado’s ecosystem. McMahan hopes people give a beekeeper a call instead of spraying them or harming them in any other way.
“They do a phenomenal amount of pollination within this state. Not only our native flowers but all the other flowers that people bring in,” McMahan said.
Slowly but surely, the swarm left the fence and moved into the box. McMahan loaded them into his truck to deliver them to their new home.
“Westminster to the Stanley Lake Wildlife Refuge, so these girls will have lakefront property tonight,” he said.
As he wrapped up, McMahan’s phone was buzzing more than the bees. Just another call to start a swarm season, he thinks, could be a long one.
“This year I’m already 20 swarms deep, so I’m expecting way more than 100 this year,” McMahan said.
To have a bee swarm removed for free from your property anywhere statewide, the Swarm Hotline number is 1-844-SPY-BEES.
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