MIAMI, Fla. – Junior
Brycen Long buried eight three-pointers to tie the program record for made threes in a game, scoring a career-high 28 points in the process, but the HCU men's basketball team came out on the wrong end of a 77-66 decision against Florida International at Ocean Bank Convocation Center on Monday evening. Houston Christian University (HCU), formerly Houston Baptist University (HBU), underwent a name change in September 2022.
FIU (1-0) got on the board first but the Huskies (0-1) answered with the next seven points. The Panthers chipped away and got back to within two, 10-8, but back-to-back treys from
Sam Hofman and Long pushed the HCU lead up to eight, 16-8, just over five minutes in. FIU pulled back within three and a few minutes later, following a Denver Jones layup, HCU connected on three straight threes for a 36-19 advantage with 6:23 left in the half.
The Huskies maintained a double-figure lead until the 1:31 mark when Arturo Dean made a layup with the Panthers getting another layup on their next possession to cut it to seven. Bonke Maring closed out scoring in the half with a put-back layup with 25 seconds on the clock to give the Huskies a 41-32 lead at the break.
Both teams traded buckets to open the second half with a Pierce Bazil jumper at the 17:41 mark putting the Huskies ahead 48-36. The Panthers started trimming the HCU lead and got to within five, 51-46, before Long answered with another three for a 54-46 lead with 14:14 to go.
FIU then answered with a 12-point run to lead 58-54 with 10 minutes left on the clock.
Jason Thompson dropped in his lone field goal of the game to bring it back to a two-point game The Panthers scored the next seven points and maintained at least a seven-point advantage the rest of the way.
Long finished the night leading all players with a career-high 28 points, connecting on 8-of-11 from behind the arc and 10-of-13 from the floor. His previous high was 26 points and seven made threes, both in a game at Southeastern last season. The junior also had three rebounds and a pair of steals. His eight made threes also tied the facility record at the Ocean Bank Convocation Center.
Freshman Pierce Bazil added seven points and four assists in his collegiate debut while Hofman had seven points and a game-high 10 rebounds. Maring ended the night with eight points and eight rebounds.
The Huskies shot 39.1 percent (25-of-64) from the floor and 52.2 percent (12-of-23) from three. FIU, meanwhile, did most of its damage in the paint with 58 of its 77 points coming from close range. Both teams finished the night with 37 rebounds.
HCU heads to Austin, Texas for its next game, a matchup with the 12
th-ranked Texas Longhorns at the Moody Center with an 8:00 p.m. tip-off.
