VERMILLION, S.D. – South Dakota basketball fell 87-76 to Houston Christian Tuesday night in its final game of a four-game homestand to start the season.
The Coyotes had five players score in double figures, but the Huskies’ Max Alexander and Jonas Nichols combined for 51 points on 18-of-26 shooting.
Kajus Kublickas led the Yotes with 16 points and had three rebounds, two assists and a steal. Josiah Dotzler was perfect from the floor (4-4) for his 15 points with one 3-pointer. Dotzler dished out six assists, had four rebounds and two steals.
The Coyotes shot 46.4% from the field and were 18-of-23 from the free throw line, but a season high 18 turnovers would doom USD as the miscues turned into 23 points for the Huskies.
After a back-and-forth start to the first half, the Huskies began to take control with a 13-2 run to take a 32-23 lead with 5:12 remaining. Houston Christian took its largest lead of the first half with a Nichols jumper with just under a minute remaining in the half, but a bucket by Iliam Fevry on the other end would cut the Huskies lead to 10 going into halftime, 44-34. The Coyotes shot 50.0% from the floor in the opening 20 minutes, but the Huskies went 19-for-31 (61.3%) from the field.
Houston Christian extended its lead to 16 early in the second, in what would be its largest lead of the night, but the Coyotes responded with 13 straight points to cut the deficit to 52-49. Dotzler and Summers had back-to-back and-ones in the run, while Kublickas chipped in five points. South Dakota pulled within one point of the Huskies on two occasions with 10:33 and 9:25 left in the half, but HCU held on to the lead and would build it back up to a double-digit advantage, 74-63, with four minutes to go. USD pulled within seven twice in the final minute, but Houston Christian would leave the SCSC with an 87-76 win.
The Coyotes drop to 1-3 on the season and will travel for the first time when they face Drake in Des Moines, Iowa Friday at 6:30 p.m.