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LAKE CHARLES, Louisiana – In a game where neither team led by double-figures the HBU men's basketball team tied the score with just nine seconds left but McNeese got a buzzer-beater three to win the Southland Conference opener for both teams, defeating the Huskies 78-75 at the Legacy Center on Saturday evening.
The HBU (4-10, 0-1 SLC) offense was slow to get going and fell behind 9-0 at the first media timeout. The Huskies got on the board at the 15:37 mark on three free throws from
Brycen Long after drawing the foul on a three attempt. HBU then started to chip away and consecutive buckets from
Zion Tordoff and a fast break layup by Long cut it to 13-10.
The Huskies pulled as close as one in the first half after a
Jade Tse free throw made it 21-20 with 8:10 on the clock. McNeese (7-11, 1-0 SLC) scored the next seven points to go back ahead by eight and then led 33-25 with 4:43 left in the half. From there, the Huskies again started trimming their deficit and out-scored the Cowboys 12-6 down the stretch with Tse hitting a buzzer-beater floater in the paint to send the teams into the locker rooms with McNeese leading 39-37.
In the second half, HBU caught up for the first time in the game when a
Darius Lee three-pointer evened the score at 42-42 less than two minutes in. After a 44-44 tie, the Cowboys regained the lead and went back up by four, 54-50, on a Collin Warren three at the 11:56 mark.
HBU scored the next six points, however, with a
Khristion Courseault driving layup giving his team their first lead of the game, 56-54, with a little over nine minutes to go.
Sam Hofman hit a layup to put HBU ahead 58-56 but a quick 8-0 run put the Cowboys back ahead by six. Myles Lewis put McNeese ahead by eight, 68-60, the Cowboys' largest lead of the half with five minutes left.
Long answered with a three for the Huskies and with 2:42 on the clock another Long trey again made it a two-point ballgame, 70-68. After a McNeese and-one made it a five-point game, Lee made a layup and after a defensive stop Hofman made one of two at the line to get HBU within two, 73-71, with just over a minute remaining.
A Taylor layup pushed the Cowboys ahead by four but Lee hit a jumper with 24 seconds left to bring the score to 75-73. A quick HBU foul sent Taylor to the line and he missed the front end of a one-and-one with the Huskies getting the rebound and Lee making a layup with nine seconds left to even the score. McNeese's Zach Scott then hit a three just ahead of the buzzer to down the Huskies.
HBU shot 57.4 percent (27-of-47) for the game but just 26.7 (4-of-15) from beyond the arc in the loss. The Huskies finished the game with 23 rebounds to McNeese's 26 while forcing 18 turnovers and committing 16. The Cowboys shot 54.2 percent (26-of-48) from the floor and 47.1 percent (8-of-17) from three.
Lee led the Huskies with 18 points and eight rebounds, connecting on 8-of-13 shooting, and had three steals. Long added 15 points while Tse had 11 and Tordoff finished with nine.
HBU will stay on the road for its next two Southland games, first in San Antonio against UIW on Thursday, Jan. 20, before facing Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Saturday, Jan. 22, in Corpus Christi.
