SAN ANTONIO, Texas – HCU men's basketball snapped a five game losing streak Saturday evening by picking up an 84-78 win over the UIW Cardinals in the McDermott Center.
 
HCU (7-18, 4-8 SLC) found themselves down four points early in the game. Sam Hofman answered for the Huskies with a floater in the lane before Andrew King evened things up with a made floater of his own two minutes into the contest.
 
Brycen Long hit the first three of the evening for the Huskies after Hofman forced a steal on one end, got on the fast break before hitting Long in the corner for three and giving HCU their first lead of the game, 11-8.
 
With 10 minutes left in the first half, Bonke Maring knocked down a midi range jumper from the right baseline. On the ensuing Husky possession Maring found an open Hofman in the corner who knocked down a three and extended the husky lead to six points, 22-16. UIW (11-14, 5-7 SLC) answered with made buckets on three consecutive possessions to tie things at 22.
 
After trading baskets over several possessions, UIW claimed their largest lead of the first half, five, on the heels of an 11-6 run. With just over 30 seconds to play in the half, Deshon Proctor drove hard into the paint and was fouled on a layup opportunity. He made both free-throws and cut the lead to four. Maring ripped a steal away from the Cardinals as they walked the ball up the court on their ensuing possession and slammed it home on the other end, cutting the Cardinal lead to one.
 
UIW hit a pull up jump shot with just seconds to spare in the half to extend their lead the three, 39-36, at halftime.
 
The Cardinals opened the second half on a 16-10 run and extended their lead to nine with just under 12 minutes to play in the game. At the 18-minute mark, Long made a circus layup for HCU to cut the lead down to two. UIW answered with a bucket on their next possession before ignoring Maring on the Huskies next trip down the floor who slammed home a wide open dunk on a pass from King.
 
The Husky offense answered with a 7-2 run beginning at the 11:48 mark following a pair of made free-throws from King. Long made a midrange jump shot on the fast break following a missed three-pointer from the Cardinals before knocking down a three pointer on HCU's next trip down the floor. Following a pair of Cardinal free throws, Maks Klanjscek knocked down a three to cut the deficit to just three, 59-56.
 
HCU tied things up at 64 with just under six minutes to play. First Zach Iyeyemi knocked down two free-throws after getting fouled in the post before Proctor made a driving layup. HCU recaptured the lead for the first time since 12:36 in the first half when Klanjscek drove into the lane, pump faked to lose the defender and knock down a layup.

The Huskies pushed the lead to five, 70-65, with 3:49 to play when King made a beautiful pass to a cutting Klanjscek in the lane.
 
Free throws and defense was the name of the game for the Huskies down the stretch who knocked down seven-of-eight free-throw attempts in the last three minutes and held the Cardinals to 13 points over the final five and a half minutes of action.
 

Klanjscek led all scorers with 25 points and added four boards and three steals. Long finished with 17 including shooting 3-of-5 from distance. King finished with 13 points and a team high six assists. Maring finished with 10 points and six boards. Iyeyemi played 14 big bench minutes for HCU and finished with eight points and six rebounds.
 
 
HCU and Lamar meet in home and home matchups next week, first battling in Beaumont before their final meeting of the season in Sharp Gym Saturday night.