Box Score

Postgame Interview with Ron Cottrell (video)

HOUSTON – Houston Baptist broke out of the gate with a 14-0 run to start the game and were pesky on defense all night as the Huskies coasted past Kansas City, 66-45, in non-conference basketball for their fourth-straight victory Wednesday night at Sharp Gym.
 
Senior forward Art Bernardi recorded his fourth double-double in the last five games with 15 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and two steals for the Huskies (8-14), but stopped his streak of 20-point games at four. Senior guard Anthony Hill drilled four first-half 3-pointers to add 13 points and six rebounds, while freshman forward Dauson Womack had 11 points and nine rebounds off the bench. Sophomore guard Marcel Smith had seven points and six assists, and freshman guard Caleb Crayton grabbed nine boards and three steals.
 
Trinity Hall led UMKC (6-19) with 13 points and 11 rebounds, while Nate Rogers had 11 points and five steals.
 
HBU shot 47 percent from the field for the game and 40 percent (4-for-10) from behind the arc, while holding UMKC to 31 percent, including 19 percent (3-for-16) from 3-point range, and only 29 percent overall in the second half. The Kangaroos went 12-for-21 from the free-throw line, while the Huskies went 8-for-13. HBU outrebounded UMKC, 39-31, and won the turnover battle, 23-19.
 
HBU scored the first 14 points of the game, getting a pair of threes from Hill, a pair of jumpers from Bernardi and a pair of layups from Joyce. UMKC got on the board on a pair of free throws by Estan Tyler with 15:43 to go in the first half, then got a jumper from Rogers. Hill answered with his third three of the half to put the Huskies ahead, 17-4, but Rogers hit a trey on the other end.
 
UMKC outscored HBU, 9-2, to close with nine with 10:30 remaining, but Womack converted a three-point play, then freshman guard James Harper made a steal and took the distance for a one-handed slam to restore the Huskies' lead to 14. Joyce drove in for a dunk on a feed from Hill, then Hill hit buried another trey and Womack slipped inside for a layup to give the Huskies their largest lead of the half at 37-19 with 1:12 on the clock.
 
The Huskies took a 37-21 lead into halftime after shooting 50 percent from the field, including 57 percent (4-for-7) from 3-point range. The Kangaroos shot only 35 percent, including 29 percent (2-for7) from long range. HBU outrebounded, UMKC, 18-10, which included eight offensive boards. Hill led the Huskies with 12 points at the break, hitting four threes, while Rogers had 11 for the Kangaroos.
 
After HBU went up by 17 early in the second half, UMKC scored six-straight to cut the deficit to 11, then got within 40-30 with 14:19 remaining. The Huskies rebounded to score six-straight of their own to once again lead by 17, then Hall made a three-point play for the Kangaroos, but Smith came back with his own old-fashioned three-point play on the other end and sank an off-balanced jumper with the shot clock winding down on the next possession to give HBU a 53-34 lead.
 
Bernardi's dunk with 3:28 left sparked an 8-0 run that gave HBU its largest lead of the game at 23, and the Huskies went on to a 21-point victory.
 
HBU's four-game winning streak matches its longest since Feb. 18-March 4, 2010. The Huskies' 21-point victory is its largest margin over a Division I opponent since a 106-84 victory over Georgia State on Feb. 12, 1987.
 
The Huskies return to action when they hit the road to face future Southland Conference foe New Orleans Saturday at noon at Lakefront Arena in New Orleans, La.