VERMILLION, S.D.—South Dakota scored 24 unanswered points at the start of a 35-4 run that helped turn a three-point halftime lead into an easy 72-56 win against Sacramento State Saturday inside Sanford Coyote Sports Center.
 
The Coyotes (8-4) won back-to-back home games this week and improved to 6-0 in their new facility. USD also moved to 3-0 against the Big Sky Conference. South Dakota will wrap up non-conference play with a three-game road trip that starts Friday against Portland at the Moda Center, the home of the Portland Trailblazers.
 
South Dakota senior Tyler Flack scored a season-high 20 points and finished a rebound shy of what would have been his second consecutive double-double. The Coyotes also got 13 points and four assists from point guard Trey Dickerson, six points and a season-high 12 boards from Trey Burch-Manning, and 10 points off the bench from Tyler Peterson.
 
Sacramento State (2-7) got 13 points and nine rebounds from 6-foot-11 big man Eric Stuteville and 10 points off the bench from Grant Dressler, but remained winless against Division I competition. The Hornets went 1-for-16 from the field and committed seven turnovers during the 13 minutes when USD took control.
 
The Coyotes' rally began with a Matt Mooney jumper with three minutes left before halftime when USD faced its largest deficit at 32-26. Triston Simpson hit a 3 to make it a one-point game and Flack went 4-for-4 from the free-throw line in the final minute to give South Dakota a 35-32 edge at the break.
 
Dickerson buried two 3's and scored eight points during a 15-0 run to begin the second half that gave the Coyotes a 50-32 lead. Sacramento State guard Jiday Egbaja made two free throws and Stuteville added a layup at the 15:46 mark of the second half, but the Hornets went scoreless again for nearly five minutes while South Dakota pushed the lead to 61-36. In all, it was Dickerson and Flack who combined for 21 points during the 35-4 run.
 
Flack made 8 of 12 shots during the game and finished two points shy of his career high set late last season. Dickerson made 4 of 8 from the field including 3 of 4 from downtown. The Coyotes shot 41 percent from the field (28-68) and the Hornets finished at 38 percent (22-57).
 
The Hornets averaged just 10 turnovers per game heading into the contest, one of the best marks in the nation, but committed 16 Saturday that led to 16 points by the Coyotes, who turned it over nine times.