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CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – HBU knocked down a season-high 13 three-pointers but the Huskies fell to the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders in Southland Conference men's basketball inside the American Bank Center on Saturday afternoon.
 
The Islanders (14-17, 10-10 SLC) got out to an early 9-5 lead after a Myles Smith three-pointer but HBU (4-25, 4-16 SLC) came back with an 8-0 run that included a pair of treys from sophomore Qon Murphy in the span of a minute. The two teams then traded leads and consecutive threes by TAMUCC staked the Islanders to a 24-18 lead.
 
Back-to-back buckets by Ian DuBose and Jalon Gates capped a 16-4 run for the Huskies that put HBU ahead by six, 34-28, with 7:50 on the clock. TAMUCC got back to within one but the Huskies again had an answer and another Gates three pushed the lead back to six, 43-37, but the Islanders were able to claw back and send the teams into the half with HBU ahead 43-42.
 
The Huskies shot 81.8 percent (9-of-11) from three in the first half and 65.2 percent (15-of-23) from the field.
 
In the second half, the Huskies took a 47-44 lead before the Islanders answered with a 10-0 run for a 54-47 advantage before the first media timeout. The TAMUCC lead reached 11, 60-49, with HBU scoring the next five points and pulling within six before the Islander lead again reached double-digits, 67-57, with 10 minutes to go.
 
HBU fought back to within two, 69-67, after a pair of Philip McKenzie free throws and traded buckets until a Murphy trey made it a one-point game, 77-76, at the 3:42 mark. After a nearly two minute scoring drought by both teams, Murphy gave the Huskies a 78-77 lead under the two minute mark with an offensive rebound and putback. The Islanders managed to keep HBU off the board the rest of the way, however, while scoring the next seven points.
 
Gates finished the day with a team-high 20 points, connecting on 7-of-14 from the floor and 4-of-6 from behind the arc. The senior was also 2-of-2 from the free throw line to secure the best free throw shooting season in HBU history. Gates finishes the season at 88.9 percent (72-of-81) from the line. His career mark of 82.8 percent from the charity stripe ranks him second all-time in program history.
 
DuBose added 17 points while also pulling down five rebounds and dishing out three assists. Murphy, meanwhile, matched his career-high in scoring with 14 points and his four made threes mark a career-best.
 
As a team, HBU finished the game 13-of-20 (65 percent) from deep and shot 50.9 percent (27-of-53) from the floor. The Islanders held a 33-29 advantage on the boards and forced HBU into 23 turnovers while committing 18.