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HOUSTON – Sophomore Ian DuBose scored a career-high 33 points with 10 rebounds for his third double-double of the season as the HBU men's basketball team earned a hard-fought 88-82 overtime win over visiting Lamar to open Southland Conference play on Wednesday night inside Sharp Gym.
 
Lamar (7-7, 0-1 SLC) held an early 6-5 lead but wouldn't lead again in the game until overtime as an HBU (5-7, 1-0 SLC) nine-point run made it a 14-6 ballgame less than four minutes in. The Cardinals worked their way back to within two after an Edwin Jeudy jumper in the paint with 10:19 on the clock but the Huskies again found some breathing room after a Philip McKenzie layup put HBU ahead by nine less than five minutes later. Another Jeudy basket with 1:17 left in the half made it a four-point game but a late layup by Ty Dalton and a free throw just before halftime from McKenzie sent the Huskies into the half leading 38-31.
 
In the second half, Lamar made a couple of early pushes to get within three, including a Nick Garth three-point that brought the score to 43-40 at the 15:35 mark but a 12-4 run capped by a DuBose putback dunk saw the Huskies leading by 11 with just over 12 minutes left in regulation.
 
Lamar again clawed its way back to within three with an 8-0 run but the Huskies pushed their lead back to nine with 5:24 left on the clock, leading 68-59. Two and a half minutes later, Jordan Hunter knocked down a trey to get Lamar within one, 70-69, the closest the Cardinals had been since they held that one-point lead in the first two minutes of the game. Edward Hardt answered with a layup for HBU but HBU couldn't push that lead past three over the final two minutes. A pair of VJ Holmes free throws at the 1:24 mark made it a 74-73 game and after a pair of missed HBU free throws with 31 seconds to go, Lamar's TJ Atwood made one of two with seven seconds left to tie the game and send it to overtime.
 
Atwood knocked down a jumper in the paint at the 4:24 mark in overtime to put Lamar ahead by two but DuBose answered with a trey just 12 seconds later to regain the lead for HBU. Dalton had a putback layup to extend the lead and a Hardt free throw with 2:19 on the clock made it 80-76 in HBU's favor. From there, HBU knocked down 8-of-8 from the free throw line to keep Lamar at bay and secure the win.
 
DuBose, who leads the SLC in scoring at 19.5 points per game, was 12-of-19 from the floor, 3-of-5 from three-point range and 6-of-9 from the charity stripe. He led all players with 10 rebounds and matched his career-best with six assists. Wednesday was his second 30+-point game of the season having previously scored 31 at Texas State earlier in the year.
 
McKenzie added 12 for the Huskies while also pulling down six rebounds while Oliver Lynch-Daniels finished with 11 points and five boards. Senior Braxton Bonds tallied five steals in the win while also adding three assists.
 
As a team, HBU shot 46.9 percent (30-of-64) from the floor while Lamar shot at a 50.8 percent (32-of-63) clip. The Huskies knocked down 22-of-32 from the free throw line while the Cardinals made 13-of-22. HBU held a 38-36 advantage on the boards and forced Lamar into 20 turnovers while committing 18.
 
The Huskies are now 2-0 in overtime games this season.
 
HBU hits the road for its next three SLC contests, beginning this Saturday, Jan. 5, with a trip to the Big Easy to face New Orleans at Lakefront Arena at 2:00 p.m.