Jake Thomas scored 24 points and Kendall Cutler 21 to lead South Dakota over Houston Baptist 91-86 on Saturday night as the Coyotes won the Great West Conference championship and an automatic bid to the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament.
Thomas hit 5 of 7 3-pointers for the top-seeded Coyotes (22-9), who went 10-for-19 from long range.
South Dakota, which won its 13th in a row, got 14 points from Steve Smith, 13 from Louie Krogman and 10 from Roman Gentry, plus 11 rebounds from Tyler Cain.
Mario Flaherty had 23 points and 17 rebounds for the second-seeded Huskies (12-21). Wendell Preadom and Andrew Gonzalez scored 20 apiece.
Krogman's 3-pointer broke an 82-82 tie with 1:54 left. He added a layup 41 seconds later for an 87-82 lead. Flaherty responded with two free throws with 46 seconds left, but Smith and Thomas hit two foul shots apiece to close it out.
