HOUSTON – Trailing by 19 at the half, the HCU men's basketball team rallied in the second half to pull within four points but ultimately fell, 84-77, to the visiting Georgia Southern Eagles in Sharp Gym on Saturday night. Houston Christian University (HCU), formerly Houston Baptist University (HBU), underwent a name change in September 2022.
The Eagles (2-3) took an early 12-4 lead but HCU (1-4) answered with a 9-4 run to cut its deficit back down to three, 16-13, with 12:26 left in the half. GSU scored the next 13 points, however, and built its lead as high as 23 in the first half before taking a 47-28 lead at halftime. GSU scored 32 of its 47 points in the paint and took advantage of 11 Huskies miscues to the tune of 18 points off turnovers.
In the second half, HCU came out firing and used a 17-7 run in the first 6:14 to get back within single-digits, 54-45. The Huskies then started to slowly whittle the GSU lead down with a
Brycen Long three with 8:37 left making it an eight-point game. A few minutes later, with 5:15 on the clock, Bonke Maring made a layup in the paint to cut it to seven, 69-62. HCU would get as close as four, 77-73, after a
Sam Hofman triple from the corner with 1:47 to go but the Eagles held the Huskies off the rest of the way.
Maring led the Huskies with a game-high 24 points on 11-of-14 shooting and added four rebounds and a pair of steals. Maring is now shooting 61.8 percent (34-of-55) from the floor this season. Long had 22 for the Huskies, hitting 6-of-14 from the floor, 4-of-10 from beyond the arc, and 6-of-6 from the foul line. Hofman ended the night with nine points, four assists and eight rebounds, all of which came in the second half.
The Huskies finished the night shooting 53.8 percent (28-of-52) from the field and 38.1 percent (8-of-21) from three. The Eagles shot 62.5 percent (35-of-56) from the floor. HCU held a slim 25-24 advantage on the boards but committed 15 turnovers to the Eagles' eight. GSU turned HCU turnovers into 25 points.
HCU has Sunday off before heading across town to take on the Rice Owls in the
Darius Lee Memorial Classic on Monday, Nov. 21, at 7:00 p.m.
