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BUIES CREEK, N.C. – The HBU men's basketball season came to a close on Tuesday evening as the Huskies were unable to overcome a red-hot start by Campbell, falling 98-79 at Gore Arena in the first round of the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament.
The Camels (18-17) raced ahead to a 22-4 lead in the first six minutes and 18 seconds of the game and knocked down 8 of the first 12 shots they attempted. The Huskies (17-14) got to within 15, 24-9, on a
Colter Lasher three at the 12:17 mark and again on a putback jumper in the paint by
Reveal Chukwujekwu at the 9:47 mark. After an
Alex Fountain layup made it a 34-18 game with 7:41 on the clock, Campbell used a 10-4 run to take its largest lead of the game, 44-22 with 2:57 left in the half. The Huskies were able to close the half on an 8-3 run to head into the locker room trailing 47-30.
Early in the second period, the Camels again pushed their lead to 22 after a Marcus Burk trey made it 58-36. A
Josh Ibarra free throw and a Lasher three helped key a 14-4 run by HBU that made it a 62-50 ballgame with 11:31 remaining.
The Huskies clawing closer, bringing their deficit to 11 after a pair of Lasher free throws at the 5:10 mark and then getting to within single-digits with 4:22 left thanks to an
Atif Russell layup. An Ibarra layup with 3:54 on the clock made it an 82-73 game at the final media timeout but HBU wouldn't get any closer.
Lasher was the top scorer for the Huskies, finishing the night with 20 points on 7-of-17 shooting. The senior also added three rebounds, two assists, two blocked shots and two steals. He closes out his career at HBU with 1,246 points, moving into 15
th on the school's all-time scoring list in his final game.
Braxton Bonds recorded his first double-double in the loss, grabbing a career-high 12 rebounds to go with 12 points while also matching a career-best seven assists. Chukwujekwu added 17 points for HBU, connecting on 7-of-14 from the floor and adding five rebounds.
Asa Cantwell was 3-of-6 from long-range to finish the night with nine points.
Chris Clemons led the way for the Camels, totaling 39 points on 11-of-23 shooting, including 4-of-8 from three and 13-of-16 from the free throw line. Burk finished with 27 for the Camels and Shane Whitfield posted a double-double with 11 points and 10 boards.
HBU held a 40-37 advantage on the glass, pulling down 20 offensive rebounds, but that wasn't enough to make up for the hot-shooting Camels. Campbell finished the game shooting 55.2 percent (32-of-58) from the field and 50 percent (13-of-36) from deep. The Huskies were 28-of-73 (38.4 percent) for the game and just 24 percent (6-of-25) from three. HBU forced the Camels into 12 turnovers in the game while committing just eight.
The Huskies close out the 2016-17 season with their best record, and first winning season, since returning to the NCAA Division I ranks.
