VERMILLION, S.D. — Uzziah Buntyn poured in a career-high 26 points, while Cameron Fens posted his seventh double-double to lift South Dakota basketball to a 76-69 win over Oral Roberts Thursday night in the Sanford Coyote Sports Center.
 
Buntyn led all players with 26 points on 6-of-15 shooting and knocked down a career-best 14-of-15 from the free throw line. Buntyn also dished out two assists and had two steals. 
 
Fens continued his dominance in the paint, posting 25 points, 13 rebounds and three blocks while shooting 10-of-16 from the field. 
 
For the second straight game, Bennion paced the Yotes in assists with five, as USD held a 12-to-5 assist-to-turnover ratio. Jordan Crawford was the third Coyote in double-figure scoring with 11 points. Vince Buzelis made his return to the Coyote rotation for the first time since December 28 and pulled down nine rebounds and had three assists. 
 
Fens had it working early, scoring the Yotes first six points of the game and finished the first half with 12. Both teams held the lead for roughly the same amount of time in the first half, with the Yotes commanding the lead for a majority of the first 10 minutes of play. However, the Golden Eagles controlled the final 10 minutes of the half. A 10-2 Oral Roberts run at the 3:27 mark pushed their advantage to double digits for the first time, 33-22. Five straight from the Coyotes in the final minute, capped off by a buzzer beating deep triple from Crawford, closed the gap with ORU taking a 37-31 lead at the break. 
 
USD chipped away in the early parts of the second half, bringing the score to a tie at 44-all five minutes in. The Coyotes regained the lead (50-46) following six straight points from Fens and would stay in front for the final 13 minutes. Buntyn poured in 20 of his career high point total in the second half, making the most of his trips to the charity stripe by going 12-for-13. Buntyn scored six points during a 10-0 run, alongside a trey from Ethan Kizer, to extend the lead to 67-56 with just under five minutes remaining. South Dakota went 7-for-8 from the free throw line in the final 1:04 to ice the win.  
 
South Dakota closes out its three-game homestand Saturday when they host the Summit League leading North Dakota State Bison at 5 p.m. in the SCSC.
 
Notes

• South Dakota moves to 12-11 on the season, 4-4 in the conference and 10-3 at home
• Uzziah Buntyn scored a career-high 26 points and knocked down a career best 14-of-15 from the free throw line
• Cameron Fens notched his seventh double-double of the season, and fourth in Summit League play, with 25 points and 13 rebounds
• USD's 37 free throw attempts tonight were the most in a Summit League game this year by the Yotes
• Vince Buzelis played 26 minutes in his first game since December 28 and grabbed nine boards and had three assists
• Over the last two games, the Yotes hold a 23-to-12 assist-to-turnover ratio
• The Coyotes held ORU to 29.4% from deep, marking the fourth conference game holding an opponent to under 30.0% from deep