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HOUSTON – Reveal Chukwujekwu scored 18 points in the second half, including a crucial three with 41 seconds left, as the HBU men's basketball won a tightly contested matchup over the Nicholls Colonels on Thursday night in Sharp Gym, 83-80.
 
Chukwujekwu, a senior, led all players with a career-best 23 points on 8-of-10 shooting and made it a double-double with a game-high 11 rebounds. It was his fifth double-double of the season and fourth in Southland Conference play. In the second half, he was 7-of-7 from the floor and had eight rebounds.
 
Josh Ibarra added 12 for the Huskies (8-11, 4-5 SLC), hitting on 5-of-9 from the floor and grabbing six rebounds while Braxton Bonds also added 12 points and five boards. Colter Lasher also reached double-digits in scoring, finishing with 11.
 
The Colonels (10-11, 3-5 SLC) were led by Ja'Dante' Frye and Johnathan Bell who both totaled 21 points. Jahvaughn Powell added 11 points and dished out 10 assists while Lafayette Rutledge totaled 10 points on 3-of-13 shooting from beyond the arc.
 
HBU raced out to an early lead, taking a 20-11 lead less than seven minutes into the game after a Lasher three, but Nicholls had an answer. The Colonels scored the next 10 points to make it a 21-20 game at the 11:50 mark. The game remained close the rest of the half until a small run by Nicholls put HBU down 41-35 with 2:45 remaining in the period. HBU closed it to three on a jumper by Lasher in the closing seconds but Bell responded with a mid-range jumper at the buzzer to send the Huskies in to the locker room down 45-40 at the half.
 
Nicholls largest lead of the game was eight and came less than four minutes in to the second stanza with the score 54-46 in the Colonels' advantage. HBU answered with a 25-6 run over the next eight minutes of the game, capped by an alley-oop to Alex Fountain in transition that prompted a Nicholls timeout. Trailing 71-60, Nicholls regrouped and fought back to a 75-73 lead with just 3:34 on the clock. Reveal Chukwujekwu had the answer for HBU, connecting on a free throw and a jumper to put HBU back in the lead, 76-75.
 
After a Powell three put HBU down two with two minutes left, it was Chukwujekwu again with a layup to tie things up. Following a steal by Jalen Weber, Chukwujekwu saved an errant pass from going out of bounds in front of the Husky bench and, with his feet inches from the sideline and five seconds left on the shot clock, knocked down his only three-point attempt of the game and put HBU ahead 81-78 with 41 seconds to go. Nicholls closed within one with just two seconds left but a pair of Bonds free throws extended the lead back to three and Lasher intercepted the Nicholls inbound pass to secure the victory.
 
HBU held a sizeable 46-27 advantage on the boards but allowed Nicholls to attempt 70 shots to the Huskies' 57 attempts. HBU shot 52.6 percent (30-of-57) while the Colonels were 44.3 percent (31-of-70) from the floor. Nicholls forced HBU into 15 turnovers while committing just eight and turned those 15 Husky turnovers into 20 points.
 
The Huskies will return to the road for the next contest, heading to Corpus Christi, Texas on Wednesday, February 1 to face the Islanders of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at the American Bank Center with tip-off set for 7:30 p.m.