VERMILLION, S.D.--It stood to reason that South Dakota would be looking to get off to a fast start after dropping its last three North Central Coinference games.

But even the 16th-ranked Coyotes could not have envisioned a better opening tonight against the Fighting Sioux.

South Dakota scored the game's first 20 points and the Sioux were never able to recover in a 91-68 Coyote victory tonight at the DakotaDome.

UND falls to 12-13 overall and 1-9 in the NCC while South Dakota improves to 20-4 and 5-4.

The Coyotes were particularly efficient from long range, knocking down six three-pointers before the game was even seven minutes old, while UND was unable to just get on the scoreboard until 5:10 into the game.

USD's Mitch Begeman knocked down that sixth three-pointer 6:29 into the half and padded the Coyotes' comfortable lead at 25-2 lead.

UND battled and matched South Dakota point for point virtually the rest of the way, but the early 20-point mountain proved to be too high to climb for the Sioux.

When it was all said and done, four different Coyotes scored in double figures and four nabbed at least eight rebounds. USD guard Dustin Little led all players with 20 points - including a perfect 12-for-12 performance from the free throw line - and added eight rebounds and four assists.

Coyote guard Jesse Becker came off the bench to hit four treys and finished with 18 points despite going 5-for-19 from the field.

Senior forward Emannuel Little (Chicago, Ill.) struggled to go 5-for-14 from the field against the much-bigger Coyotes, but still managed to finish with15 points and matched his career highs with 17 rebounds and six assists.

As a team the Sioux shot just 32.5 percent from the field, including 29 percent (9-for-31) from three-point range.

UND returns home to host Nebraska-Omaha on Saturday, then will close out the regular season at home against Minnesota Duluth on March 1.