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KATY, Texas – Facing UIW for the fourth time this season, No. 5 seed HBU shot nearly 60 percent from the floor and out-rebounded No. 8 seed UIW by 15 en route to a 74-64 opening round win in the Southland Conference Tournament at the Merrell Center on Wednesday evening.
The Cardinals (7-25) came out hot, making their first three shot attempts of the game, including two from behind the arc, to get out to an 8-4 lead. HBU (11-17) got its first lead of the game after a
Khristion Courseault jumper at the 14:13 mark made it an 11-10 ballgame. The team then alternated leads and after a
Darius Lee layup made it 15-14 UIW scored the next 10 points to jump ahead, 24-14 with 8:21 left in the half.
The Huskies started trimming their deficit over the next five-plus minutes, pulling back to within one, 31-30, on a Sam Hoftman layup on a fast break. Drew Lutz answered with a bucket for UIW at the 2:47 mark to go back up by three but HBU responded with consecutive threes from Courseault and Hofman plus a layup from
Jade Tse to close the half on an 8-0 run to lead 38-33 at the break.
RJ Glasper opened the second half with back-to-back threes for UIW, putting the Cardinals ahead 39-38 less than a minute into the half. Courseault had the answer for the Huskies, hitting the game's next two baskets and putting HBU ahead with a lead it wouldn't relinquish the rest of the way. After pulling ahead 46-41 with 15:12 on the clock, UIW managed to get it back to just a single-point game, 48-47, after a Josh Morgan and-one conversion just a few minutes later.
HBU scored the next six points and kept its lead to at least five from there. The Huskies led by as many as 13 down the stretch thanks to a pair of layups from Lee and Courseault and a free throw from Hofman with 3:17 left. HBU closed the game by making 10 of its last 12 field goal attempts while limiting UIW to just 1 of its last nine field goal attempts.
The Huskies posted their best field goal percentage of the season, shooting 59.6 percent (31-of-52) from the floor despite shooting just 22.2 percent (4-of-18) from three-point range. HBU held a 34-19 advantage on the boards and out-scored the Cardinals in the paint, 46-22. UIW finished the game shooting 41.2 percent (21-of-51) from the field.
Courseault led all players with 19 points on 8-of-12 shooting along with three rebounds and a pair of blocked shots. Lee had a double-double of 17 points and 10 rebounds, shooting 8-of-10 from the floor, while Hofman also added a double-double, finishing with 11 points and 10 rebounds.
Brycen Long ended the night with 11 points and five assists.
The Huskies advance to the second round to face No. 4 seed Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Thursday, Mar. 10, at the Merrell Center at 5:00 p.m.
