HOUSTON – The HCU men's basketball team put together one of its best defensive efforts of the season and got a combined 40 points from
Maks Klanjscek and
Brycen Long en route to a 68-59 Southland Conference win over Texas A&M-Commerce inside Sharp Gym on Thursday evening.
In the first four minutes of the game, junior
Nate Hudson had staked the Huskies (5-12, 2-2 SLC) to a 4-0 lead with four points, three rebounds and two steals. Texas A&M-Commerce (6-12, 2-2 SLC) took an 8-7 lead after a Demarcus Demonia layup at the 14:02 mark but it was a short-lived 12 second lead before Long answered with a three and the Huskies led the rest of the way. The HCU lead grew as large as 12 in the first half thanks to a
Bonke Maring fast break dunk following a steal with 3:22 left. The Lions, however, scored the final six points of the half to close it to 27-21 at the break.
The Lions came out in the second half and used an early 7-0 run capped by a Tommie Lewis three-pointer that made it a 32-28 ballgame. Then, coming out of a media timeout, the Huskies scored 13-straight points for a 45-28 advantage at the 12:10 mark. HCU's lead never got higher than 17 but the Huskies led by double-figures for the majority of the final 12 minutes.
HCU held the Lions to just 38 percent (19-of-50) from the floor and 26.1 percent (6-of-23) from three-point range. That's the second-lowest shooting percentage against for the Huskies this season and the best defensive effort so far in SLC play. The Huskies also forced 21 turnovers. HCU shot 48 percent (24-of-50) for the game and hit 45 percent (9-of-20) from behind the arc.
Long ended the night with 21 points on 5-of-10 shooting, including 4-of-7 from three and 7-of-9 from the foul line. The junior now stands at 136 made threes for his career, just two away from moving alone into 10
th place on the program's all-time made threes list. Klanjscek finished 7-of-15 from the floor, 3-of-8 from three, for 19 points.
Maring finished with 11 points and five rebounds while Hudson added six points and three steals. Freshman guard
Andrew King dished out six assists paired with zero turnovers, raising his assists per game to 3.8 and his assist/turnover ratio to 1.6.
HCU will head back to Louisiana on Saturday, Jan. 14, for a 3:30 p.m. tip-off against the McNeese Cowboys in Lake Charles at the Legacy Center.
