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HOUSTON – HBU jumped out to an early lead and went back-and-forth in the first half before falling to visiting Oral Roberts, 85-67, on Saturday evening in Sharp Gym.
The Huskies (2-5) scored on three of their first four possessions to open the game with sophomore
Brycen Long knocking down a pair of threes and staking HBU to an 8-0 lead just over two minutes in. Oral Roberts (5-4) responded by scoring the next seven points before
Darius Lee and
Sam Hofman made a pair of layups to put HBU up 12-7 at the 13:20 mark.
The Golden Eagles answered with a pair of three-pointers to gain a one-point advantage with the teams then trading scores and leads.
Khristion Courseault knocked down a pair of free throws and Lee made a shot in the paint with 8:11 left in the half for an 18-15 Huskies' lead. With HBU leading 22-21 at the 5:19 mark, ORU scored the next eight points to go ahead by seven, 29-22, before taking a 34-27 lead into the intermission.
In the second half, the Golden Eagles pushed their lead to 23 just less after just less than eight minutes and after ORU led 64-43, the Huskies made a seven-point run to get within 14 but were unable to get any closer.
Lee finished with his third double-double of the season and his third in the last four games, putting up 21 points and 10 rebounds on 9-of-13 shooting. Long ended the night with a career-high 18 points and two blocked shots, connecting on 4-of-5 from beyond the arc and 6-of-9 for the game. Hofman set a new career-high with eight rebounds and added nine points.
Jade Tse added 10 points and four assists.
The Huskies shot 46.4 percent (26-of-56) from the floor but made just 28.6 percent (6-of-21) from three. ORU, meanwhile, hit on 48.3 percent (29-of-60) from the field and 42.9 percent (12-of-28) from deep. ORU won the rebounding battle, 39-30, while HBU committed 16 turnovers to ORU's 13.
Max Abmas led the Golden Eagles with 18 points while Elijah Lufile had a double-double of 13 points and a game-high 11 rebounds. Trey Phipps finished with 14 points and DeShang Weaver had 12.
The Huskies remain at home for their next two beginning with a visit by Champion Christian on Tuesday, Dec. 7, before taking on Rice on Saturday, Dec. 11.
