VERMILLION, S.D. — South Dakota basketball improved to 10-0 at the Sanford Coyote Sports Center Thursday night with a 92-82 win over Oral Roberts. It's the program's first 10-0 start in the SCSC since opening its doors in 2016-17, and best start at home in a season since 2008-09 when the team won its first 14 home games.
 
Five Coyotes scored in double-figures as South Dakota hit the 90-point mark for the eighth time this season. Chase Forte poured in 18 points, six assists, three steals and a block to lead the Yotes. Isaac Bruns and Paul Bruns had matching 15-point and five rebound nights. Isaac Bruns had a pair of steals, while Paul Bruns knocked down 4-of-6 attempts from beyond the arc, three of which came in the second half.
 
Kaleb Stewart added 12 points off the bench with a pair of triples, while Ashton Smith was a perfect 4-of-4 from the field and 3-of-3 from the free throw line for his 11 points. Max Burchill did the dirty work for the Yotes, corralling a team-high nine rebounds with eight off the defensive glass to help the Yotes win the rebounding battle, 38-34.
 
The Yotes were effective in the lane, scoring 44 of 92 points in the paint on their way to shooting .517 percent from the field.
 
There was a lid on the hoop from deep in the opening 20 minutes, as the two teams combined to shoot 4-for-22 beyond the arc. Over half the points in the first half came from the paint (44), with USD scoring 24 of its 43 in the lane. Isaac Bruns reached double-figures in the opening 20, his 16^th game of the season with 10+ points, with 13 on 4-of-7 shooting. While the Golden Eagles held the lead for the first part of the half, it was the Yotes who went into the intermission with the advantage, 43-33. With the score tied at 24-24, South Dakota outscored ORU 16-7 over the final eight minutes to take the double-digit lead into the break.
 
Stewart found his rhythm in the second half, scoring 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting with a pair of treys. Forte dished out four assists to go with nine points, while Burchill cleaned the glass with six boards and five points in the final 20 minutes. Stewart knocked down a triple, his fifth straight point, to give USD its largest lead of the night (18) going into the under-16 media timeout, 54-36. South Dakota's largest lead of the night was 19, 62-43, following back-to-back buckets from Dre Bullock with 11:40 left. ORU would cut back into the lead, pulling within three with 5:49 left in the game. Paul Bruns responded for the Yotes, knocking down back-to-back triples to start a 15-5 run that pushed USD's lead back to double-figures (83-70) with 2:47 remaining. The Yotes went 7-for-8 from the free throw line over the final two and a half minutes to close out the 10-point win.
 
The Coyotes are back in action in the SCSC Saturday when they host North Dakota State at 2:00 p.m.
 
Notes

• South Dakota improves to 11-8 on the season, 10-0 at home and 2-2 in Summit League play
• It's USD's first time starting a season 10-0 in the SCSC since it opened its doors in 2016-17
• It's the best start at home for the Coyotes since the 2008-09 season when the team won the first 14 home games
• USD has now won 12 straight games in the SCSC, dating back to last season
• It was the eighth game of the season scoring 90+ points for USD
• The Yotes were 25-for-30 from the free throw line and recorded their second highest single-game free throw percentage of the season (.833).
• Max Burchill tied a career high with nine rebounds
• Five Yotes scored in double-figures on the night
• It was Paul Bruns' second game of the season with four made 3-pointers, and 11^th game with multiple treys
• Ashton Smith tallied two blocks on the night, his sixth game with multiple rejections