Follow @HBUBasketball

HOUSTON – HBU shot over 80 percent from behind the arc in the first half to build a 19-point lead at the half and never looked back as the Huskies downed Champion Christian by a score of 93-60 on Friday evening inside Sharp Gym.
 
The Huskies (1-4) had things rolling from the start, never trailing and using a 20-point run to build a 28-7 lead with a little over eight minutes remaining in the first half. Champion Christian (0-1) managed to cut the Huskies' lead to 13 but back-to-back threes from Za-Ontay Boothman and Myles Pierre pushed it back to 19 quickly and HBU's lead would hover around 20 until halftime when the Huskies led 50-31.
 
In that first half, HBU connected on 9-of-11 (81.8 percent) from three-point range and 17-of-26 (65.4 percent) from the floor. Boothman scored 15 in the half and was 5-of-6 from deep.
 
In the second half, the Tigers were able to get as close as 17 on two occasions but after the score was 66-46 in the Huskies' favor with 11:25 to go, a 14-1 HBU run effectively shut the door.
 
For the game, the Huskies finished shooting 58.3 percent (35-of-60) from the field and 61.9 percent (13-of-21) from beyond the arc. Boothman finished with a career-best 23 points on 8-of-13 shooting while hitting 6-of-8 from three. The freshman, who made his first career start, also dished out three assists and had a pair of steals. Junior Pedro Castro, meanwhile, also set a new career-high in points with 18 to go along with a team-best seven rebounds and three steals.
 
Senior Philip McKenzie added 14 points, making 5-of-7 from the floor and a perfect 4-of-4 from the charity stripe. Pierre ended the night with eight points, five assists and four rebounds. HBU forced 23 turnovers and converted those into 28 points.
 
HBU's next game is slated for Tuesday, Dec. 15, afternoon across town inside Tudor Fieldhouse against the Rice Owls at 2:00 p.m.