HOUSTON – HBU overcame a nine-point second-half deficit and clamped down on Texas A&M-Corpus Christi down the stretch as the Huskies claimed a 77-66 victory in Southland Conference basketball Monday night at Sharp Gym. The win marks the Huskies' fifth-straight at home, where they are 9-1 this season.
Junior guard
Anthony Odunsi shot 5-for-11 from the field and 12-of-15 from the line as he led HBU (11-10, 6-5 SLC) with a career-high 22 points to go along with six rebounds and four assists. Sophomore forward
Colter Lasher added 16 points, eight rebounds and five assists, while freshman center
Josh Ibarra had 10 points and four rebounds. Sophomore forward
Reveal Chukwujekwu had eight points and eight rebounds, and senior center
Ricmonds Vilde had eight points off the bench.
John Jordan made 9-of-18 from the field, but missed all three 3-point attempts and all four free-throw attempts, to finish with 18 points, seven rebounds and six assists for the Islanders (12-11, 7-4). Rashawn Thomas also had 18 points and seven rebounds before fouling out. Joe Kilgore added eight points and Bryce Douvier had seven points and five boards.
HBU shot 49.0 percent from the field, 4-for-10 from behind the arc, and 25-for-31 from the free throw line, while TAMU-CC shot 44.1 percent, only 34.4 percent in the second half and 2-for-13 from 3-point range, and 12-for-19 from the line. The Huskies outrebounded their opponent for the 16
th time this season, 40-27, and only turned the ball over 10 times.
In the first half, Vilde knocked down a three to give the Huskies a five-point lead, but the Islanders used a six-point spurt to take their first lead of the game, 19-17, with 8:21 to go. The Huskies quickly tied it back up but Brandon Pye made a jumper and Ehab Amin made a layup to put the Islanders ahead by four.
Ibarra took a feed from Lasher for a layup off the glass as the Huskies trailed by two, but The Islanders scored six-straight, capped by a Jordan dunk to lead 35-27 with 1:49 remaining. HBU answered by scoring the last six points of the half, five of them by Lasher, to close within two at the break.
TAMU-CC scored seven-straight on a three by Pye, a dunk by Jordan and a pair of free throws by Thomas to take a 44-35 lead with 16:04 left. The Islanders still led by seven with 14:08 remaining, but the Huskies outscored them, 10-2, on a three and a layup by Lasher, a three-point play by Odunsi and a pair of free throws by sophomore center
Cody Stetler to take a 49-48 lead with 10:25 on the clock.
Jordan came back with a jumper as TAMU-CC reclaimed the lead, then Odunsi tied it by making one-of-two from the line. Jordan pulled up for a jumper to give the Islanders a 56-55 lead with 7:50 to go, but that would be the final time in the game they would be ahead. Back-to-back layups by Lasher gave the Huskies a three-point advantage, then he knocked down a pair of free throws to keep that same margin with 5:19 left.
Thomas sank a free throw and Pye's high-arching 17-footer found the bottom of the net as TAMU-CC pulled back within one, but Odunsi found senior guard
Marcel Smith in the corner and he buried a three, then Jordan missed a pair of free throws on the other end. Odunsi put the Huskies up by six by sinking a pair of free throws and they held that lead with 1:13 left. Jordan raced down and hit a jumper to cut the Huskies lead to four with 1:03 on the clock and again with 52 seconds left to make the score 70-66.
HBU scored the last seven points of the game and went 10-for-12 from the line after Smith's three.
The Huskies return to action when they host Sam Houston State Saturday at 7 p.m. at Sharp Gym. As part of the 50
th Season Celebration, HBU will announce and honor the All-Decade Team for the 1990s.
