VERMILLION, S.D. – The South Dakota men's basketball season came to an end Wednesday night in a 90-77 loss in the opening round of the College Basketball Invitational inside the Sanford Coyote Sports Center.
 
Roosevelt Smart, an All-Conference USA selection, tallied a game-high 34 points, including 23 points in the second half. He scored seven 3-point baskets to aid in the Mean Green's victory. North Texas moves into the quarterfinal round of the CBI with a 16-17 record.
 
South Dakota ends the season with a Division I era-best 26 wins against nine losses. Matt Mooney tallied his first-career double-double with 22 points and 10 rebounds, both team highs. The 10 rebounds also marked a career-high for the junior guard.
 
A 10-1 Mean Green run took a 22-20 lead to 32-21 midway through the first half. A layup from Mooney stopped the run and sparked a quick 6-0 USD run. Carlton Hurst scored on a layup and a pair of free throws from Nick Fuller brought the deficit down to five points at 32-27 with 3:27 remaining in the half. North Texas would enter halftime with a 39-35 lead.
 
The Mean Green then used 51 second-half points to pull away from the Coyotes, including a lead that stretched to 22 points with 7:28 remaining in the game.
 
South Dakota tried to will itself back in the game, with a 19-8 run which brought the deficit back to 10 points with 1:22 on the clock. The run concluded with a 3-point basket from Mooney and a layup from Fuller to make the score 83-73.  A few possessions later, Mooney hit a jumper to bring the score to eight points at 85-77, but North Texas made its free throws over the final 50 seconds to prevail 90-77.
 
South Dakota concludes its season having set school records with 2,832 points scored, making 1,017 field goal attempts and having played in 35 games. Matt Mooney tallied the fourth-most points in a single season with 634 points.
 
The loss concludes the careers of South Dakota seniors Joshua Doss, Nick Fuller, Carlton Hurst and Austin Sparks.