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LAKE CHARLES, La. – Edward Hardt and Jalon Gates scored 17 points apiece and Braxton Bonds nearly reached his second triple-double of the season but HBU came up short in an 88-79 loss to McNeese on Saturday afternoon inside Burton Coliseum.
 
Both teams traded blows early on with seven lead changes in the first eight minutes of the game before McNeese (10-16, 7-9 SLC) went on an eight-point run with all eight of those points coming from LaBarrius Hill to put the Cowboys ahead 21-14 with just over 10 minutes left in the half. HBU (6-23, 2-14 SLC) trailed by as many as eight but back-to-back threes from Jalon Gates cut that to two with the sophomore's third trey of the half putting the Huskies up by one less than two minutes later.
 
Holding a 29-28 lead with less than five minutes to go, the Huskies went on a 12-6 run highlighted by a Chukuka Emili three followed by a dunk to make it 41-34 in HBU's favor with 1:32 on the clock. In the final minute of the half, the Cowboys added five points to bring the score to 41-39 at the half.
 
HBU got the first three buckets of the second half to take an eight-point lead with a pair of Stephen Ugochukwu free throws getting McNeese on the board. A pair of baskets from Will Gates Jr. and Edward Hardt pushed the Husky lead to 51-41 with 15:57 on the clock.
 
During the next five-plus minutes, McNeese used a 16-4 run to retake the lead, 57-55, with 10 minutes to go. HBU regained the lead twice over the next four minutes, including a 63-62 lead after a pair of Jalon Gates free throws at the 6:36 mark. A Hardt layup evened the score at 68-68 but the Cowboys out-scored the Huskies 20-11 the rest of the way.
 
Hardt set a new career-high for the second-consecutive game with 17 on 8-of-11 shooting while pulling down seven rebounds and totaling a career-high three steals. Gates tallied 17 points thanks to 5-of-7 shooting from beyond the arc and a pair of free throws.
 
For Bonds, his line read 10 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds to fall just shy of a triple-double. David Caraher ended the day with nine points and a game-high 12 boards while Oliver Lynch-Daniels added eight points off the bench.
 
The Huskies held McNeese to just 6.3 percent (1-of-16) from three but were undone by a large differential in free throws. McNeese got to the line 30 times compared to just 12 for HBU with both teams connecting on 83.3 percent from the charity stripe. HBU finished the game 31-of-69 (44.9 percent) from the floor and 7-of-22 (31.8 percent) from behind the arc.
 
Five different players scored in double-digits for McNeese, led by Jarron Greenwood who had 21 points while Quatarrius Wilson posted a double-double of 13 points and 10 rebounds.
 
The Huskies close out their road schedule this Wednesday, Feb. 28, with a visit to the McDermott Convocation Center on the campus of Incarnate Word in San Antonio, Texas.