HOUSTON, Texas —- Houston Christian University raced to a 25-point lead at halftime and cruised to a 107-72 victory over Champion Christian College on Saturday night in Sharp Gym.
The Huskies, who had been off all week for end-of-semester final exams, showed no signs of rust in shooting 51% from the floor in the win, and
Michael Imariagbe posted the first HCU 20-20 game in just over 19 years to lead the rout.
The Huskies jumped out quick, bursting out to an 11-4 lead by the first media. Straight out of that timeout, a
Tristan Moore three-point play started another run, a 12-2 spurt that gave HCU a 21-6 advantage just six minutes into the contest.
A Bazil-to-Bazil connection led to a dunk by
Pierce Bazil off an assist from brother
Porter Bazil, giving the Huskies a 30-13 lead with 8:29 to go in the first frame.
Dominic Capriotti's first triple of the night from the win in front of Champion's bench pushed the lead to 43-25 just ahead of the four-minute media. That started a 15-5 half-closing run that would give HCU a comfortable 55-30 lead at the intermission. The half ended with a double-double effort by
Michael Imariagbe, who scored 16 points and hauled in 12 boards in just over 15 minutes.
The second half was more of the same for the hosts, as they continued their offensive assault. A three-pointer by
Dominic Capriotti gave the Huskies their first 30-point lead at 70-40 with 14:31 still to play.
Moments later, Imariagbe hit
Bonke Maring with a touchdown pass for a dunk. HCU would hit the century mark on
Pierce Bazil's triple from the corner which also gave the hosts a 40-point lead with 3:48 to play.
Braden Bostwick cashed in a triple for his first career-bucket with 2:25 to go and the Huskies would coast the rest of the way.
Michael Imariagbe posted his third straight double-double, going for 26 points and 21 rebounds to lead six players in double-digit scoring. He also chipped in four assists and two blocked shots.
The 21 caroms by Imariagbe were a career-high for the junior from Houston, and the second time in his career he has cleaned the glass for 20 boards in a game, with his previous best of 20 coming for McMurry against Concordia-Austin in 2022. He has now pulled down 46 rebounds, 18 on the offensive end, over his last three outings.
It was also the first 20-20 effort for HCU in just over 19 years, dating back to December 13, 2004 when Chris Miller posted a massive 36-23 night at Texas A&M-International. Miller led the country in rebounding that season at 11.2 per game.
Marcus Greene finished 3-4 from the arc and had 16 points and three assists, while
Pierce Bazil had 13 points, eight rebounds and 3 assists.
Chigozie Achara,
Bonke Maring and
Dominic Capriotti each had a dozen points for HCU. Achara's 12 was a career-best, while Capriotti went 4-8 from three, his second game of the season with four treys. The Huskies shot 50.6% from the floor, and hit at a season-best 43.5% clip from long range, knocking down 10-23 from deep.
Champion was led by Jamal Clark, who had 21 points, four rebounds, four assists and four steals in 37 minutes of action. Noah Brooks hit 4-6 from the arc off the bench, finishing with 17 points, while AJ Williams had 13 points and seven assists for the Tigers.
HCU (2-7) continues the three-game stretch to finish off the non-conference slate next week, hitting the highway for a pair of games. The Huskies will be in Dallas on Tuesday night for a matchup with SMU before traveling down to College Station to take on Texas A&M on Friday evening.
#DawgsUp
