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HOUSTON – Three different seniors scored at least 23 points and HBU led for the majority of the game en route to the Huskies' eight-straight victory on Wednesday evening at Sharp Gym, defeating Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 94-80 to move into a third-place tie in the Southland Conference standings.
 
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (18-10, 11-6 SLC) scored the first bucket of the game but HBU (16-12, 11-6 SLC) got the next two never trailed the rest of the way. The Huskies pushed the pace and got out to an early 12-5 lead but the Islanders clawed back to within two with 12:38 on the clock. HBU again extended its lead to 27-19 before a nine-point burst again cut the HBU lead to one, making it 29-28 with just 2:58 to go in the half. Over the final 2:45, HBU closed the period on a 10-2 run for a 39-30 halftime advantage.
 
A&M-Corpus Christi came out hot to start the second half, again pulling to within one less than two minutes and thirty seconds into the second half thanks to a pair of Ehab Amin three-pointers. HBU maintained its lead though, keeping TAMUCC at bay until a 10-1 run that included five points from Atif Russell gave the Huskies their first double-digit lead of the night, 59-49 with 12:17 left to go.
 
HBU's lead got as low as five, with 8:51 on the clock, but a layup and a pair of free throws from Reveal Chukwujekwu put the Huskies up by nine before a Russell layup made it an 11-point game. Over the final 6:45 of the game, HBU's lead remained between nine and 16 points.
 
Over the final five minutes of the game, HBU knocked down 15-of-19 from the free throw line while making 29-of-41 for the game.
 
Colter Lasher matched his career-high with 28 points on 8-of-18 shooting, including 6-of-9 from beyond the arc and 6-of-6 at the charity stripe. Chukwujekwu recorded his 10^th double-double of the season, finishing with 23 points and 12 rebounds. Russell, in 29 minutes off the bench, scored a career-high 24 points on 8-of-10 shooting.
 
Rashawn Thomas led the Islanders with 24 points and nine rebounds, hitting on 7-of-17 from the field. Amin added 21 points for the Islanders while Joseph Kilgore scored 19.
 
HBU shot 47.5 percent (29-of-61) for the game and hit 43.8 percent (7-of-16) from deep. The Huskies held a 40-26 advantage in the paint on the Islanders and forced 15 turnovers while committing just 10. On the boards, HBU pulled down 43 rebounds with 13 of them coming on the offensive end.
 
With the win, HBU assures itself of a first round bye in the Southland Conference tournament with the possibility of a tie for the regular season championship and a two-round bye in the tournament still alive..
 
The Huskies will close out their regular season with Senior Night on Saturday, March 4, when they host Abilene Christian in Sharp Gym at 7:00 p.m.