South Dakota defeats Houston Baptist 97-84 to wrap up regular-season Great West title

South Dakota defeats Houston Baptist 97-84

VERMILLION, S.D. — Louie Krogman scored a career-high 31 points and Roman Gentry added 24 to lead South Dakota to a 97-84 victory over Houston Baptist Saturday night.

Steve Smith added 17 points and Jake Thomas 11 for the Coyotes.

The win gives South Dakota (19-9, 10-1) the regular-season championship in the Great West Conference. The Coyotes face NJIT on Sunday at home in a makeup game to complete their regular season.

Andrew Gonzalez had 32 points and 16 rebounds for Houston Baptist (10-20, 9-3). Mario Flaherty had 15 points and 19 rebounds for the Huskies, who owned a 49-30 edge in rebounds.

But the Coyotes made up for that deficit by making 16 of their 27 3-point attempts, or 59 percent. Krogman was 6-for-8 and Gentry 5-for-8 from behind the arc. South Dakota also scored 29 points off 19 Houston Baptist turnovers.