AUSTIN, Texas --- Houston Christian University hit a long dry spell to finish the first half and never recovered, falling 77-50 to No. 12 University of Texas at the Moody Center in Austin on Saturday afternoon.
An offensive rebound and putback by
Bonke Maring tied the game at six apiece three and a half minutes into the contest. Texas answered quickly, getting consecutive three-pointers from Tyrese Hunter and Kadin Shedrick to take a 12-6 lead before
Michael Imariagbe was fouled on a backdoor just before the media. Imariagbe canned both free throws after the break to cut the lead to 12-8.
After two quick scores by the Longhorns,
Jay Alvarez hit a three-pointer and that was followed by back-to-back offensive rebound buckets by Imariagbe and Maring. A moment later, Maring canned a short jumper outside the lane to cut the Texas lead to one, 18-17 with 11:50 to play in the first half.
The Huskies then went ice-cold. Two straight turnovers led to breakouts for Texas, with a steal and layup by Shedrick giving UT a 24-17 lead with 7:55 to go, forcing HCU into a quick timeout. Four minutes later a driving layup high off the window by Max Abmas added to the Texas spurt and gave the hosts a 13-point lead at the final first-half media timeout. The Longhorns would ultimately take a 37-17 lead into the break, as the Huskies finished the first half shooting just 21%.
A steal and layup by
Pierce Bazil to start the second fame finally broke the ice for the Huskies. Imariagbe followed that with a coast-to-coast effort and follow of his own miss and then his offensive rebound and dump off to
Jay Alvarez cut into the UT lead again, 41-23 with 17:03 to go. HCU had a couple more chances to cut into the lead, but couldn't convert, and trailed by the same score at the 15:45 media.
Bazil would hit a runner in the lane, and
Marcus Greene followed with a whirling dervish finish and three-point play as the Huskies kept fighting, cutting the lead to 44-28 with 13:44 to play. Greene followed again with another tough finish in the paint, keeping the Huskies within striking distance, but an Abmas triple from the corner in front of the Texas bench pushed the UT margin back to 19 just seconds before the under-12 media.
HCU kept hanging around.
Marcus Greene hit a three from the top of the key with the shot clock winding down and that was followed by a Bazil-to-Bazil connection for a score. An outlet up the floor from Pierce to a running
Porter Bazil forced a UT timeout with 8:49 to go. UT responded out of the timeout with an 8-0 run to which HCU couldn't answer, and the Horns cruised the rest of the way.
The Huskies (1-7) shot just 37.8% from the floor on the afternoon, including just 3-12 from long range. The game moved swiftly with just 23 total free throws taken by the two teams combined.
Marcus Greene led the HCU offensive attack, scoring 15 points.
Michael Imariagbe had his second straight double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds, while
Bonke Maring came a point away from his second straight as well with nine points and 13 rebounds. It was the fourth double-figure rebound game for Maring in his last five outings.
The 12
th-ranked Longhorns shot 46.4% overall but just 28.6% from the arc. UT placed four players in double-digits, led by Max Abmas with 16. Kadin Shedrick had 15 points, while Dillon Mitchell added a double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds. Tyrese Hunter had 12 to round out the quartet for the Horns, now 7-2 on the season.
The Huskies will take off for finals week, returning to action to action next Saturday when they host Champion Christian College in Sharp Gym. That game starts a three-game stretch to finish off the non-conference slate before the Christmas break.
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