Houston Baptist takes inaugural Great West title

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

03/14/2010 - Orem, UT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jake Thomas scored 24 points and South Dakota earned a postseason trip with a 91-86 victory over Houston Baptist in the championship game of the inaugural Great West Conference Tournament.

Kendall Cutler added 21 points and eight assists for the top-seeded Coyotes (23-9), who won their 13th straight game. They received an automatic bid to the Collegeinsider.com Tournament.

Steve Smith finished with 14 points, Louie Krogman 13 and Roman Gentry 10 for South Dakota. Krogman had the go-ahead three-pointer with 1:54 left in the game.

Mario Flaherty had 23 points and 17 rebounds for Houston Baptist (12-22), which also received 20 points apiece from Andrew Gonzalez and Wendell Preadom.

Gonzalez tied the game with a layup, but Krogman's long-distance shot moved the Coyotes to an 85-82 edge. A turnover from Shawn Echols led to a Krogman layup for a five-point edge with 1:13 remaining.

Flaherty hit a pair of free throws with 46 seconds left for an 87-84 margin, but Smith and Thomas each hit two foul shots down the stretch to seal the win for the Coyotes.

The Huskies trailed by a 25-15 count following a Gentry three-ball with 11:13 left in the opening half. South Dakota was ahead by as many as 17 before holding on to a 46-31 advantage at intermission.

Houston Baptist finally whittled the deficit to single digits at 52-43 inside 17 minutes left on a Preadom three-pointer. HBU later scored 12 in a row to get within 80-78.

Game Notes

Tyler Cain had 11 rebounds for South Dakota, which shot 47.5 percent from the field...South Dakota went 10-of-19 from beyond the arc, including 5-of-7 from Thomas...The Coyotes went 25-of-30 at the foul line.

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Big East Conference odds

Work left to do: Villanova, Syracuse, DePaul, West Virginia, Providence

Notre Dame and Louisville appear to have done enough to make the move, so we'll make them locks. The Cardinals, despite a modest RPI, are trending way up and have clinched at least a tie for third in the Big East, which should be more than enough with their pair of big road wins. Villanova got back to .500 and gets back to more solid footing. Syracuse got a very important road win and crippled a fellow contender in the process. West Virginia's fate could be in its hands Tuesday at Pitt.

Work left to do:

Villanova [18-9 (7-7), RPI: 21, SOS: 5] Pounded Rutgers to get back to .500. If Cats can get their last two (at UConn, vs. Syracuse), that should be enough with strong computer numbers and a host of wins away from The Pavilion. The Cats have beaten Texas and swept the Big 5 (never easy in Philly), but have a couple of losses to bubble teams (Xavier, Drexel), too. I still think they'll be OK, possibly even at 8-8.

Syracuse [20-8 (9-5), RPI: 53, SOS: 62] History says 10 wins will be plenty, but it might be hard for the Orange to get that last one with a final two vs. G'town, which is trying to win the league title, and at Villanova, which will be desperate for a W. The relative lack of nonconference heft and the weak computer numbers are still concerns, but the Orange have won four in a row and got a very, very big win at Providence on Saturday.

DePaul [16-12 (8-7), RPI: 54, SOS: 18] Beat Cincy and should get past South Florida to get to 9-7, but then what? They have beaten Kansas and Cal (right after the DeVon Hardin injury) earlier this season, but also have lost to Bradley and Purdue, among others. They'll likely need a couple of BE tourney wins, too, but we'll see ...

West Virginia [19-7 (8-6), RPI: 58, SOS: 125] The game at Pitt on Tuesday night could decide the Mountaineers' fate (barring a deep tournament run). They can still get to 9-7 in the Big East without it by beating Cincinnati, but the nine wins would be against UConn, Villanova, St. John's, South Florida, DePaul, Rutgers, Seton Hall twice and the Bearcats. Beating bubble foes is fine, but where's the beef? Outside of beating PG-less UCLA in nonconference play (still a top quality win), there's not a lot to fall back on (besides maybe NC State). WVU vs. Syracuse would be an interesting debate, as the teams don't play in the Big East regular season. WVU has the best win, but Cuse has played the much better schedule.

Providence [17-10 (7-7), RPI: 70, SOS: 33] The Friars likely saw their at-large hopes die at home in the four-point loss to Syracuse, barring an unexpected run to the Big East semis or more. The RPI, bad already, won't be helped by playing St. John's and South Florida in the final two league games.

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