VERMILLION, S.D. — South Dakota basketball continued its winning ways at the Sanford Coyote Sports Center Saturday night with a 91-84 win over Denver. The Coyotes are now 9-0 at the SCSC and 10-7 overall.  
 
Chase Forte notched his seventh 20+ point game of the season with 22 tonight to go alongside seven rebounds and two steals. Isaac Bruns, who made his first start as a Coyote, poured in 21 points on 5-of-9 shooting with five boards and went 11-for-14 from the free throw line. Cameron Fens added 10 points and six boards, while Kaleb Stewart had nine points and Max Burchill tallied four points, six boards and two steals.
 
The Yotes had the advantage in points off turnovers (15-9), in the paint (42-36) and second chance points (25-20). The Coyotes went 32-for-51 from the free throw line in the contest, with both being new season highs.
 
Ashton Smith, also making his first start as a Yote, made his presence known early scoring five of USD's first 12 points. The first 13 minutes of the game was closely contested with neither team leading by more than five points. The Yotes built the first extended lead of the night at the 6:44 mark with a 10-0 run to take a 34-25 lead. The Yotes went 4-for-6 from the field during the run with four different scorers, capped off by a 3-pointer from Stewart. South Dakota took a 10-point advantage, 43-33, with 45 seconds left in the half after eight straight points from Forte. The Pioneers, however, scored the next four points and USD would take a 43-37 lead into the intermission.
 
Smith rocked the rim to open the second half, off a nice dish from Burchill, and USD pushed their lead back to 10 following a pair of free throws on the next possession by Isaac Bruns. The Yotes grabbed their largest lead of the night on a one-minute, 6-0 run that featured a pair of dunks from Fens. While the Coyotes held the lead for the entirety of the second half, the Pioneers made it interesting late, cutting the lead to three, 80-77, with 3:25 remaining. The Yotes would score the next five to extend their lead back up to eight and would secure the 91-84 win.
 
Isaac Bruns was efficient for the Yotes in the second half, scoring 15 of his 21 points on 4-of-7 shooting and 7-of-9 from the free throw line.
 
The Yotes will have a week off until their next Summit League game when they travel to face St. Thomas next Saturday night at 7:00 p.m. in St. Paul, Minn.
 
Notes

• South Dakota improves to 10-7 on the season and 9-0 at the SCSC
• It was the fifth game at home this season where the Yotes scored 90+ points
• Tonight's win was the first home win of the season decided by fewer than 10 points
• The Yotes are averaging over 90.0 points per game at the SCSC
• It was Chase Forte's seventh 20+ point game of the season
• Isaac Bruns scored 20+ for the third time this year and played a season-high 28 minutes
• Isaac Bruns and Ashton Smith made their first starts as a Coyote
• Cameron Fens added 10 points and six boards off the bench
• Kaleb Stewart knocked down three or more 3-pointers for the fifth time
• The Yotes 32 made and 51 attempted free throws were both season highs
• Tonight was the sixth Summit League game where a team shot 50 or more free throws (USD, 32-51 FTs)