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CHARLESTON, South Carolina --- Houston Christian University held an eight-point lead midway through the second half, but saw Bellarmine University put together a furious rally down the stretch, as the Huskies fell 74-69 on Tuesday night in the first of a pair of games at The Citadel MTE at McAlister Field House.
 
Bellarmine shot out of the gates with a five-point spurt, but Elijah Brooks first basket of the campaign and a three-pointer from Kylin Green quickly tied things up three minutes in. The two teams would trade buckets for the next three minutes before Green gave the Huskies their first lead, 11-9 on a layup with 14:24 to go in the opening twenty.
 
The Knights then went on a 10-4 run, capped by a pair of Jack Karasinski free throws, to take a four-point edge, 19-15 just under the midway point. HCU quickly answered once again, as an offensive putback by Ryan Bartley, another bucket from Brooks and a second triple by Green pushed the Huskies to a three-point edge, 22-19.
 
Back-and-forth the two teams continued, with neither giving up much ground. BU would recapture a three-point advantage on a Grant Whitaker layup with 5:30 to go, but the Huskies would then clamp down on the defensive end.
 
A jumper by Brooks ignited a 12-6 closing stretch for HCU. The run was highlighted by two more trifectas from Green and one from Bartley that gave the Huskies their largest lead of five, 38-33 with 57 seconds to go before carrying a three-point led into intermission.
 
The second half started with Kylin Green continuing his offensive surge. After going 4-5 from deep in the first half, Green scored twice going to the paint to open the scoring for HCU in the second. Ryan Bartley hit another three out of the first media timeout of the second frame, pushing the lead back to five, 47-42.
 
Dunks by Brian Waddell and Karasinski brought Bellarmine to within three, but Green answered from long range to give HCU a six-point edge, 52-46 with 13:38 to play. Two free throws by Trent Johnson gave HCU it's largest lead of the night at eight, 54-46 as the 12-minute media loomed.
 
Bellarmine wasn't about to go away without a fight. Karasinski began to assert himself on the offensive end, starting a 17-6 run with a slam and ending it with back-to-back three-pointers as the Knights reclaimed the lead, 63-60 and forcing an HCU timeout with 5:12 to play. He would then hit another three coming out of the timeout, pushing the BU lead to six, 66-60 with 4:49 to go.
 
The Huskies bounced back, and consecutive three-pointers from Trent Johnson and Ryan Bartley knotted things up at 66 with two to play. Kenyon Goodin hit two free throws to give the Knights the lead back 68-66 before Elijah Brooks hit one of two to cut the deficit to a digit, 68-67 with 1:09 to go.
 
Grant Whitaker hit two charity shots with 41 ticks left to push the BU lead back to three, but Brooks again cut the margin with a layup. Darrius Bolden then canned two freebies before a missed three-pointer by Mara would force the Huskies to foul again, where Karasinski calmly sank a pair to push the lead to 74-69 and ice the ballgame.
 
Both teams shot well from the field and arc, with HCU hitting 10-23 from deep for 44% on the evening. The game was ultimately decided at the charity stripe where Bellarmine knocked down 18-20 on the night, while the Huskies struggled at 38%.   
 
Kylin Green scored a career-best 24 points on a personal-best five three-pointers, while also grabbing six boards. Elijah Brooks made his season debut after missing the first four games and went 7-13 for 17 points while chipping in six caroms and three assists.
 
Ryan Bartley had 11 points with three triples and Trent Johnson closed out the double-digit quartet with 10 points.
 
Jack Karasinski led all scorers with 28 points for Bellarmine (3-4), going 9-12 from the floor and knocking down four from deep. Brian Waddell added 16 points.
 
HCU is now 3-2 on the season. The Huskies finish off their two-game stay in Chucktown with a Thanksgiving Eve matchup with host The Citadel. Tip-off at McAlister Field House is scheduled for 6 pm CT and can be seen on ESPN+.
 
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