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EVANSTON, Ill. – HBU led for a majority of the game, but it wasn't enough as the Northwestern Wildcats surged in the second half to hand the Huskies men's basketball team, 72-63, on Thursday night at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
 
HBU (4-6) and Northwestern (11-2) traded buckets in the early-going with neither team holding a lead for long, but the Huskies took a 9-7 lead into the first media timeout. The Huskies built their lead as the half wore on with Colter Lasher coming up with a steal on the Northwestern end and hitting a mid-range jumper to put HBU ahead 29-21. That jumper was part of an eight-point run by the Huskies that gave them their largest lead of the game, 33-21. HBU then took a 35-25 lead into the half.
 
Northwestern came out in the second half with a 10-4 run to cut the HBU lead to four after a three and a jumper from Bryant McIntosh. The Wildcats then took a brief lead but the Huskies took it right back on an emphatic fast break dunk by Atif Russell, going ahead 46-45 with 12 minutes to go. Northwestern answered with a Scottie Lindsey three to go ahead by two and the Wildcats wouldn't relent the lead the rest of the way. The Wildcat lead got as high as 11 with 2:33 on the clock but HBU managed to cut it to 67-61 with 47 second left.
 
The Huskies shot 53.8 percent in the first half but managed just 28.6 percent in the second stanza. HBU ended the game shooting 40.7 percent to Northwestern's 35.8 percent. The Wildcats, after getting out-rebounded 23-12 in the first half, held a 30-18 advantage in the second half and pulled down 17 offensive rebounds in the game. Those offensive boards led to 25 second chance points for Northwestern. The Huskies held the lead more than 23 minutes of the game compared to less than 14:30 for Northwestern.
 
Lasher and Russell paced HBU with 13 points apiece, with Lasher hitting 6-10 and dishing out a team-best four assists while Russell was 5-8 shooting and added six rebounds. Reveal Chukwujekwu added 10 points to go with a team-high seven boards while Alex Fountain pitched in with 11 points, knocking down 6-9 from the charity stripe.
 
Northwestern was led by Scottie Lindsey who finished with 19 points. Isiah Brown had 12 for the Wildcats while Sanjay Lumpkin and Vic Law both contributed 11.
 
The Huskies begin Southland Conference play next Thursday, Dec. 29, when they head north on I-45 to Johnson Coliseum in Huntsville to face Sam Houston State at 6:30 p.m.