HOUSTON – HCU came out on the wrong end of an 89-78 final on Thursday night at Sharp Gym, dropping a Southland Conference men's basketball matchup to visiting UIW.
The Huskies (6-13, 3-3 SLC) rushed out to an early 9-4 lead less than three minutes into the game before four-straight buckets for the Cardinals (7-12, 1-5 SLC) put UIW ahead, 12-9.
Sam Hofman evened the score at 12-12 on a three-pointer but UIW responded with a seven-point run to go ahead 19-12 at the 11:26 mark.
HCU kept things close and used a seven-point burst of their own to regain the lead, 25-24, on a
Bonke Maring layup with 6:18 to go in the half. The teams traded scores for a few minutes until back-to-back baskets for UIW pushed the Cardinals back ahead by five, 35-30, with 2:27 left in the half. Hofman made a tough layup with 33 seconds on the clock to pull the Huskies within three but UIW's Trey Miller scooped up a loose ball near the basket and managed to drop in a layup just ahead of the buzzer for a 39-34 score at the break.
In the second half, HCU forced a quick turnover and Maring put a second chance layup in to pull the Huskies within three but UIW answered with the next five to lead by eight. As the half wore on, the Huskies cut their deficit to five multiple times before UIW responded and led by 11, 62-51, with a little less than 10 minutes left.
Two minutes later, trailing 64-54, the Huskies went on an 8-2 run to make it a two-possession game, 66-62 after a thunderous dunk from
Deshon Proctor at the 5:30 mark. UIW scored the next three points and quickly got its lead back to double-figures, holding off the Huskies the rest of the way.
The Huskies had a tough shooting night, connecting on just 37.9 percent (25-of-66) from the floor and 28.6 percent (6-of-21) from three-point range. UIW< meanwhile,="" knocked="" down="" 58.2="" percent="" (32-of-55)="" overall="" and="" made="" 4-of-10="" (40="" percent)="" from="">
Hofman led the huskies with 18 points and eight rebounds, finishing 6-of-16 from the field and 3-of-7 from long-range. Freshman point guard
Andrew King ended the night with a career-high 17 points paired with six rebounds and six assists to just one turnover. Over the last three games, King has 17 assists to just one turnover.
Proctor was efficient in 14 minutes off the bench, scoring 10 points and pulling down five rebounds.
Brycen Long scored 11 and had three assists while Maring added nine points and eight rebounds for the Huskies.
Jonathan Cisse led all players with 25 points for UIW and dished out six assists. HCU held a 37-29 advantage on the boards.
HCU is back to it this Saturday, Jan. 21, when the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders visit Sharp Gym at 7:00 p.m.
