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HOUSTON – Where to start? The HBU men's basketball team defeated McNeese 149-144 in four overtimes in the fourth-highest scoring NCAA Division I basketball game in history and set a new program record for points scored on Saturday night in Sharp Gym to close out the regular season.
HBU (10-17, 6-8 SLC) and McNeese (10-21, 4-10 SLC) combined to score 293 points, the most ever in a Division I game not involving Loyola Marymount and U.S. International. It was a game that saw 25 lead changes and 24 tie scores with neither team leading by double-digits at any point. HBU (10-17, 6-8 SLC) broke a 20-year-old scoring record set when the Huskies scored 148 points against Paul Quinn on Feb. 28, 2002.
Darius Lee tied the program and conference scoring record with 52 points. HBU set new SLC records with 50 made free throws and 65 free throw attempts. Both teams scored more points than any other team this season and HBU made, and took, more free throws than any team this season. The two teams combined to score 164 points in the paint.
Lee finished with 52 points, 18 rebounds, five assists and three steals. He was 16-of-30 from the floor and 20-of-27 from the foul line.
Khristion Courseault scored a career-high 30 points, knocking down 8-of-25 from the floor and 12-of-17 from the charity stripe. He also added seven assists and six rebounds.
Jason Thompson, in his first action since briefly getting on the floor on Jan. 27, played 31 minutes off the bench, pulling down a career-high 11 rebounds and scoring seven points.
Zion Tordoff scored 16,
Brycen Long had 14 and
Sam Hofman scored 10.
Zach Iyeyemi and
Jade Tse both finished with eight while
Tristan Moore scored four.
The game was tight early with both teams leading by as many as five in the first 10 minutes. Collin Warren made a layup at the 2:25 mark in the first half to put McNeese ahead, 39-38, but Lee answered on the next possession to put HBU back up by one. Tse scored the next two buckets of the game for a five-point lead and two Courseault free throws with 36 seconds left gave the Huskies a 47-41 lead at the half.
The largest lead of the game, nine, came on HBU's opening possession of the second half on a Hofman triple. The Cowboys scored on the next possession and within three minutes had cut it to a three-point HBU advantage, 54-51. Iyeyemi converted an and-one at the 15:16 mark for a 61-54 HBU lead but the next seven points went to the Cowboys to even it up. The two teams then went back-and-forth down the stretch with neither leading by more than four. With 44 seconds on the clock, Trae English made a layup for a 92-91 McNeese lead but Courseault answered with a layup of his own and scored a second chance put-back with just 18 seconds left, leaving the Huskies with a 95-92 lead. English came up with a big and-one for the Cowboys with nine seconds on the clock to even it up at the end of regulation.
HBU scored the first four points of overtime but McNeese scored the next six, holding HBU scoreless for three and a half minutes until, trailing by two, Lee made one of two free throws with 18 seconds on the clock. Myles Lewis then made one of two at the line with 13 seconds to go and Lee got a layup to fall with a second to go to end the first overtime, 102-102.
In the second overtime, the Cowboys again got a lead, this time by six, 111-105, with just 1:54 left. Lee converted an and-one, the Huskies got a defensive stop and then Moore made a pair of free throws to cut it back to one. McNeese knocked down free throws on both of their next possessions to maintain a three-point advantage until Thompson went to the line with just seven seconds showing. He made the first but missed the second. Lewis went to the line with six seconds left, missing both of his free throws with Lee drawing a foul just ahead of the buzzer and knocking down both free throws to send it to the third overtime, 115-115.
It was the Huskies who got the offense going in the third overtime, jumping out ahead by six after a Long three-pointer at the 1:58 mark. McNeese answered with a 6-0 run, however, tying it up with just 46 seconds left. Lee hit another layup and Thompson knocked down a pair of free throws with just 19 seconds to go to put the Huskies ahead, 131-127. Johnathan Massie made a layup at the :11 mark and Lee drew a foul three seconds later. The senior missed both of his free throw attempts and Zach Scott drilled a three with just a second left on the clock to give the Cowboys a 132-131 lead. A player from the McNeese bench ran onto the floor, earning a Class B technical foul and awarding a single free throw to the Huskies. Long took the shot, made it, and sent it to the fourth extra period.
Another Long three-pointer with 2:27 to go in the fourth overtime made it a 140-136 HBU lead but the Cowboys evening it up just over a minute later, 141-141, on a Warren dunk. Courseault hit one of two at the line on HBU's next possession and after a steal by Long on the next possession, he put in a second chance layup for a 144-141 lead. Massie answered with a put-back layup for McNeese with 19 seconds left, against making it a one-point game. Courseault converted one of two at the line on the next trip down the floor and the Huskies came up with a stop and Lee made both free throws on the next possession with just 10 seconds to go, putting HBU ahead 147-143. Warren went to the line with four seconds left and made one of two before Lee iced the game with just three seconds on the clock, hitting both his free throw attempts.
The Huskies shot 48.4 percent (46-of-95) from the floor, and 76.9 percent (50-of-65) from the foul line. McNeese, meanwhile, hit 55.2 percent (53-of-96) from the field and 68.9 percent (31-of-45) from the charity stripe. Both teams hit seven three-pointers. HBU won the rebounding battle, 58-50, with 22 on the offensive end. Eight different players scored in double-figures for the Cowboys.
HBU finishes fifth in the Southland Conference standings and heads into the 2022 Southland Conference Tournament as the five seed, facing UIW on Wednesday, Mar. 9, at 5:00 p.m. in Katy, Texas at the Merrell Center.
