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SAN ANTONIO, Texas – Senior Braxton Bonds and junior Jalon Gates combined for 34 points and the HBU men's basketball team shot 69 percent from the floor in the second half as the Huskies downed Incarnate Word 96-92 on Wednesday evening in Southland Conference play inside the McDermott Convocation Center.
 
HBU (6-13, 2-6 SLC) scored on the opening possession but UIW (6-15, 1-7 SLC) took advantage of three-straight Husky turnovers to get out to a 6-2 lead within the first minute and a half of the game. Trailing 11-6, the Huskies then went on an eight-point run to lead 14-11 before an Augustine Ene three tied things up at the 12:48 mark.

As the half wore on, neither team was able to get much separation on the scoreboard. Over the final 16 minutes of the half, the largest lead either team was able to achieve was four with 13 lead changes and eight tied scores. UIW shot 60.7 percent (17-of-28) from the floor in the first half.
 
In the second half, HBU came out and scored the first four points with a pair of layups by Bonds to lead 48-45 less than a minute in. Charles Brown III and Jordan Caruso answered with a pair of threes for the Cardinals and UIW went on a 12-0 run before a Stephen O'Suji three made it a 57-51 ballgame with 15 minutes to go.
 
A Bonds layup pulled the Huskies within four but UIW scored the next four points and at the second media timeout of the second half, the Cardinals led 63-58. HBU came out of the timeout with a six-point run to lead 64-63 but on the next possession, UIW got a trey from Antoine Smith to go back ahead, 66-64, with 10:11 on the clock.
 
The game stood tied at 73-73 at the 7:11 mark and UIW picked up a pair of points on free throws coming out of a media timeout but HBU answered with a layup by Edward Hardt, a Bonds steal and fast break dunk, and a layup by Ty Dalton to take a 79-75 advantage and force a timeout by the Cardinals with just under six minutes left.
 
Hardt drew a charge on the next UIW possession and the Huskies took advantage with another O'Suji trey for their largest lead of the game, 82-75. Christian Peevy converted an and-one on the Cardinals' next possession and UIW forced a turnover to get another bucket and cut the HBU lead to two, 82-80, before both teams traded baskets and a Bonds layup with a foul put HBU ahead by three with 3:53 on the clock at the final media timeout of the game.
 
Peevy evened the score at 86-86 with an and-one but Dalton gave HBU the lead again with a layup with 2:47 remaining. A pair of Peevy free throws again tied it up before Gates knocked down his first three of the game with just over two minutes on the clock to go up by three, 91-88. Caruso made one-of-2 from the charity stripe to pull the Cardinals within one but a Gates layup with 36 seconds on the clock put HBU back up by four and a breakaway dunk by Gates with 11 seconds to go put the game out of reach.
 
Bonds totaled a career-best 27 points on 12-of-15 shooting while adding four assists and four rebounds. Gates, who went into the half with zero points, turned it on in the second half for 18 points on 6-of-7 shooting and a 5-of-7 night at the free throw line. Gates and Bonds combined to score 34 in the second period. Dalton added 11 points for the Huskies and grabbed a game-high seven boards while O'Suji finished with 11.
 
HBU shot 56.1 percent (37-of-66) from the floor for the game but was especially hot in the second half, connecting on 20-of-29 (69 percent). UIW also shot well, especially from deep, knocking down 61.9 percent (13-of-21) from beyond the arc and 56.5 percent (30-of-53) from the field. The Huskies controlled the boards, holding a 36-23 advantage in rebounds. HBU also doubled-up the Cardinals in the paint, scoring 64 points inside to UIW's 32.
 
The game was 20 lead changes and 15 ties with neither side leading by more than nine. The Huskies held the lead for 18:40 while the Cardinals held the advantage for 15:42 of game time.
 
HBU will return to Sharp Gym on Saturday, Feb. 7, for a 7:00 p.m. tip-off against the Islanders of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in the first of two meetings between the two teams this season.