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HOUSTON – HBU fought its way back to within one from a 16-point second half deficit but could not quite complete the comeback effort, falling to Southland Conference foe Southeastern Louisiana in Sharp Gym on Wednesday night, 70-67.
The Huskies (5-12, 1-5 SLC) got out to an early 8-5 lead but Southeastern Louisiana (7-12, 3-3 SLC) answered with a 15-1 run over a four minute, 20 second span to lead 20-9. HBU cut its deficit as close as five but went into the half trailing 37-23 after Southeastern's Marlain Veal finished the first period with 17 points.
The Lions' largest lead of the game came less than 30 seconds into the second half on a jumper by Tyron Brewer made it a 16-point game. From there, the Huskies began to whittle the SLU lead down, using an 11-3 run to make it 45-38 at the 14:32 mark in the second half. Veal pushed that lead back to double-digits with a three with 10:11 to go, bringing the score to 55-44.
A pair of
Ian DuBose threes played a big part in a 9-2 run by HBU to get to within four, 57-53, with 7:53 left on the clock. With 5:43 remaining,
Edward Hardt made one of two free throws to pull the Huskies within three but three minutes later it was a Moses Greenwood layup that put the Lions ahead by seven, 64-57.
The SLU lead was again seven with 1:40 remaining but DuBose responded with another three to cut it to four and a Hardt layup on the ensuing possession brought the Huskies to down just two, 66-64. The Lions' Von Julien made one of two free throws with 1:18 on the clock and
Stephen O'Suji dropped a layup in off the glass with just over a minute left to make it a 67-66 ballgame. Greenwood knocked down a pair of free throws with 26 seconds left to put SLU back ahead by three and with five seconds left,
Ty Dalton earned a pair of free throws, making the first and missing the second. Pape Diop made one of two free throws on the other end with four seconds left and after a turnover on the HBU inboud, DuBose stole the SLU inbound and his three-point look with three seconds to go was off target. The rebound ended up out of bounds with one second to go and a Dalton desperation three at the buzzer fell short.
DuBose led HBU with 22 points on 7-of-10 shooting, 5-of-7 from beyond the arc, and was 3-of-4 at the foul line. Hardt added 19 for the Huskies, knocking down 6-of-9 from the field and 7-of-10 from the line.
Braxton Bonds finished with nine points and four steals while Dalton ended the night with six points and a team-high six rebounds.
Veal led all players with 26 points and added five assists for the Lions while Greenwood had 15. The Huskies shot 46.8 percent (22-of-47) from the floor and 33.3 percent (5-of-15) from three. Southeastern finished 23-of-47 (48.9 percent) for the game and 8-of-18 (44.4 percent) from deep. The Lions out-rebounded the Huskies 32-to-24 with both teams committing 22 turnovers.
The Huskies head to Lake Charles, La. on Saturday, Jan. 26, for a 3:30 tip-off against McNeese in a game that will be aired on ESPN+.
