COMMERCE, Texas --- Houston Christian University used some feisty defense down the stretch, and rallied past Texas A&M-Commerce 69-65 at the Field House on Saturday afternoon. The victory avenged a buzzer-beating loss in Commerce last season, and gave the Huskies their first SLC win of the year.
Both teams got off to sluggish starts, with neither able to convert through the first two minutes.
Dominic Capriotti broke the ice when he picked up a loose ball and scored with 18:05 on the clock. Two minutes later the teams would hit the first media with the Huskies ahead 5-2 and a combined 3-15 shooting from the floor.
Commerce would come out of that break with a quick burst. A three-pointer by Pop Weathers was followed by back-to-back fastbreak scores from Kalen Williams that forced an HCU timeout. A
Bonke Maring basket inside stopped the run temporarily, but another Weathers triple pushed the burst to 13-2 by the 11:38 mark.
HCU would start to climb back in. Maring scored six straight points, and a pair of free throws from
Jay Alvarez pulled HCU to within three, 18-15 with 7:49 to play. After a pair of free throws by the Lions, Capriotti would nail a deep triple to close the gap to two, 20-18.
The Lions would answer again, this time using a 7-0 run that was capped off by another pair of scores from Williams. A
Jay Alvarez three-ball ended the spurt and preceded a breakaway slam from
Marcus Greene that got the Huskies back to within four, pushing Commerce into a timeout before the final media of the half. HCU would get a three-pointer from Greene just before the halftime horn, and went into the break trailing 34-30.
HCU opened the second half with a quick burst, with
Jay Alvarez converting a three-point play at the 18:06 mark to give the Huskies their first lead since the game's first media timeout. He would score again to knot the game at 40 with 16:02 to go, giving him eight points in the first four minutes of the second frame.
The Lions would use a 10-6 run over the next four minutes, highlighted by a straight-away three-ball off the glass by Kwo Agwa. He would later get a tip-in to push the Commerce lead to six, before a
Michael Imariagbe offensive putback pulled HCU to within four once again.
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Marcus Greene three-ball to beat the shot clock edged the Huskies ever closer, 52-49 with 11:30 to play. Moments later, he was fouled on a cut to the bucket, and knocked down both free throws to tie things up once again, 55-all with just over eight minutes to go. Maring would then score four straight, a lefty layup in the lane, and a dunk on a sneaky dime from Alvarez, giving HCU the lead once more, 59-57.
After an Alvarez free-throw, it was Williams again for the Lions, this time knocking down a three-ball from the top of the circle to even the game at 60. Alonzo Dodd's driving score gave TAMUC the lead back, but Greene responded with his own race to the rim to give the Huskies a 63-62 lead with 3:33 to play as the hosts called for a timeout. Out of that timeout, the Lions got an and-one by Agwa, giving them a two-point cushion. Those points would be the last for Commerce for the remaining 3:21 of the game.
Carpriotti nailed a mid-range jumper to tie the game and the Huskies would get two straight stops, the second of which led to a breakout from
Bonke Maring, who took the pass from Imariagbe and dunked it home to give HCU the lead for good, 67-65.
Marcus Greene would hit two free throws with 18 seconds left to put HCU up four, and the Huskies would get another stop to close things out, as the Lions missed their final five field goal attempts down the stretch.
The Huskies shot 47% for the afternoon while holding the Lions to just 42%. The Huskies dominated the glass to the tune of a 42-27 advantage, and erased a nine-point first half deficit. HCU led for just seven minutes total, but that included the all-important final 1:35 when it took the lead for keeps.
Jay Alvarez led the Huskies with a career-high 24 points while also dishing out a career-best and game-high six assists.
Bonke Maring posted a double-double with 18 points while tying his career-high in rebounds with 15.
Marcus Greene closed out the trio of double-digit scorers with 18 and four assists.
Dominic Capriotti had seven points and six rebounds while making his first start of the campaign.
Commerce, now 6-10 overall and 0-3 in SLC play, was led by Kalen Williams, who led all scorers with 28 points. Kwo Agwa was the only other Lion in double-digits with 12 to go with four blocked shots.
HCU is now 3-11 after picking up its first conference win of the campaign, improving to 1-2 in the SLC and avenging last season's nail-biting buzzer-beater defeat. The Huskies will complete their stretch away from home with their third game in eight days on Monday at Northwestern State.
Due to winter weather affecting the area, the tip-off time for Monday's game has been moved up to 2 pm. The game will still be available on ESPN+.
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