Follow @HBUBasketball
KATY, Texas – Playing for the second night in a row at the Southland Conference Tournament at the Merrell Center, the shots wouldn't fall for the fifth-seed HBU men's basketball team as they dropped a 75-60 matchup with No. 4 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Thursday evening.
HBU (11-18) got out to an early 5-2 lead after a three-pointer from
Sam Hofman a
Zion Tordoff layup and after the Islanders (21-11) scored the next two buckets
Khristion Courseault made a layup for a 7-6 HBU lead four minutes into the game. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi scored the next 11 points, however, to go ahead by 10 just three minutes later. The Islanders pushed their lead up to 15 but the Huskies came back with an 8-0 run to get back within seven, 25-18, with 7:50 left in the half but the Islanders closed the first period with a 14-3 run to lead 39-21 at the break.
Terrion Murdix hit a jumper in the paint to open the scoring in the second half for a 20-point TAMUCC lead. The Huskies made a push from there, using a 15-4 run over a five minute stretch to get their deficit down below 10, 45-36, with 13:54 to play. The Islanders again had a run to answer, though, scoring the next eight with another Hofman trey making it a 14-point game but HBU was unable to get any closer down the stretch.
Darius Lee led the Huskies with 18 points, pulling down six rebounds and adding four assists and three steals. Hofman finished the night with 11 points while Courseault added 10. Tordoff, a senior playing his final college game, led all players with seven rebounds and added eight points on 3-of-5 shooting from the floor.
The Huskies shot just 30.5 percent (18-of-59) a day after enjoying their best shooting performance of the season on day one of the tournament. HBU was out-rebounded by the Islanders, 41-35, but forced 14 turnovers while committing 12.
TAMUCC finished the game shooting 50 percent (28-of-56) from the field. The Islanders were led by Simeon Fryer with 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting, 4-of-5 from behind the arc.