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DENVER, Colo. – On Sunday afternoon the HBU men's basketball team opened up with a hot-shooting first half but the host Denver Pioneers got hot in the second half and pulled away to defeat the Huskies, 74-61, at Hamilton Gymnasium.
 
Sophomore Jade Tse opened up the scoring on the Huskies' (1-3) opening possession of the game but Denver (3-3) quickly took a 6-2 lead with HBU going more than three minutes before its next basket. Zach Iyeyemi knocked down a mid-range jumper just ahead of the shot clock to break the Huskies' scoring drought and started a 9-0 run that left HBU ahead 11-6 less than six minutes in.
 
After the Pioneers broke the Huskies' scoring run they pulled to within four, 13-9, before back-to-back highlight reel dunks from freshman Deshon Proctor gave HBU an eight-point lead, 17-9, the team's largest of the game. The Pioneers closed the gap over the next three minutes with a 10-3 stretch to bring the score to 20-19.
 
The Huskies maintained an advantage the rest of the half, leading by as few as one and as many as seven, 32-25, with 3:37 to go in the half. Denver closed the half strong, however, and the Huskies led 35-34 at the intermission.
 
In the second half, Tse hit an early bucket for a three-point lead but the Pioneers answered with the next seven points for a 41-37 lead at the 17:40 mark. That lead rose to six and Denver was up 51-45 after a pair of KJ Hunt free throws with just under 12 minutes remaining. Iyeyemi hit another layup and Khristion Courseault nailed a three from the corner to make it a one-point game, 51-50 less than a minute and a half later.
 
DU's Jordan Johnson answered with a three on the next possession to go back up by four on the Huskies. Brycen Long connected on a pair of free throws the next time the Huskies had the ball to get within two but that was as close as HBU would get the rest of the way. The Pioneers scored the next six points and five was as close as the Huskies could get over the final eight minutes.
 
The Huskies shot 44.2 percent (23-of-52) for the game after knocking down 51.9 percent (14-of-27) in the first half. Both teams struggled from three, going 4-of-14 (28.6 percent) from beyond the arc. The Pioneers out-rebounded the Huskies, 31-26, and won the turnover battle, forcing 13 miscues by HBU while committing eight.
 
Iyeyemi led HBU with 11 points on a perfect 5-of-5 shooting performance from the floor while Darius Lee scored 10 and led all players with eight rebounds. Lee also had three assists and a pair of steals. Long added 10 points off the bench, going 5-of-5 from the foul line. Tse finished with eight points and a career-best six rebounds and Proctor ended the day with seven points and six boards.
 
Denver had four different players score in double-figures, led by Johnson with 20. The Pioneers finished the game shooting 50 percent (25-of-50) from the floor.
 
HBU travels to Norman, Okla. for its next game on Wednesday, Nov. 24, evening at 7:00 p.m. against the Oklahoma Sooners inside the Lloyd Noble Center.