SAN ANTONIO --- On a Saturday chock full of upsets across the Southland Conference slate, Houston Christian University had its four-game winning streak snapped as it fell to rival University of the Incarnate Word 74-64 at the McDermott Center. The Cardinals rallied from an eight-point deficit with a 13-0 run to take control and even the season series with the Huskies, who fall into a four-way tie in third place after a crazy day of action that opened up the second half of the conference schedule. 
 
HCU got things going quickly, as after an opening bucket by UIW's Jordan Pyke, the Huskies then scored 11 unanswered points. Bryson Dawkins started it all with a steal and layup, and a nice dish from Elijah Brooks to a cutting Peyton Rogers made it 8-2. Julian Mackey then scored on a conventional three-point play sandwiching the first media to give HCU an 11-2 edge just five minutes into the contest.
 
The Cardinals would come right back, scoring six straight, finished off by buckets from Jayden Williams and Jalin Anderson to cut the lead to 11-8. HCU stopped the run with back-to-back dishes from Brooks to Rogers, pushing their edge back to seven.
 
After Anderson connected on a three, Rogers came right back with one of his own on yet another dime from Brooks. A floater in the lane by Brooks was followed by a bucket by Porter Bazil to hand the Huskies had their first double-digit lead of the contest, 22-11 with 7:36 remaining in the first frame.
 
UIW then began a half-ending surge. Over the next eight minutes, the Cardinals would chip into the lead, mainly behind the continued hot hand of Anderson, who scored 15 of the final 23 points for UIW. A D'Aundre Samuels three-ball kept HCU's lead in double-figures, but the Cardinals would pull to within four on an Anderson triple.
 
Trent Johnson scored two buckets to double the Huskies advantage to eight, but Anderson then hit two jumpers and a three-ball sandwiched around a pair of treys from Davion Bailey to claw within three. Anderson scored his 20^th point of the half with 1:31 to go to cut the lead to two, but Elijah Brooks scored on a drive to the bucket and later hit a free throw to send HCU to the intermission with a 36-34 advantage.
   
An offensive putback by Jordan Pyke with just over two minutes gone in the second half knotted the game at 40-apiece. The Huskies then went on a quick 8-0 spurt, with a pair of free throws by Rogers followed by consecutive layups from Brooks. The run was finished off by a strong move and finish at the rim by Bryson Dawkins to push HCU's margin to 48-40 with 14:55 left.
 
From there the game would begin to slip away. Pyke drove baseline for an emphatic dunk beginning a 13-0 run for the hosts. Anderson knocked down a jumper and Bailey a three before Pyke hit a turnaround with 12:29 to go to push UIW ahead 49-48, the first lead for the hosts since 2-0 just seconds into the contest. The Cardinals would never trail again, pushing the margin to eight with 6:53 to go as the Huskies scored just two points over that nearly six-minute span.
 
A three-pointer by Julian Mackey cut the lead to six, 62-56 with just under five to play, but that would be as close as the Huskies would get the rest of the way. Two dunks by Marcus Glover pushed UIW's lead to its largest at 13 with 47 seconds to go before a three by Peyton Rogers provided the final 10-point margin.
 
After making three of its first four shots to start the second half, the Huskies went 6-13 with eight turnovers over the final 14-plus minutes. UIW took advantage, outscoring HCU 34-16 over that span to avenge an earlier win by the Huskies in January at Sharp Gym and earn a split of the season series.
 
HCU still finished the game shooting a season-high 55% from the floor, but made just half of its shots at the free-throw line. Peyton Rogers scored a career-high 16 points and grabbed eight boards for the Huskies, while Elijah Brooks finished with 13 points, five boards and five assists. Julian Mackey ended with 12 points.
 
UIW shot 52% from the floor in the second half to pull away for the win. Jalin Anderson had a game-high 29 points to lead four players in double-digits for the Cardinals. Dylan Hayman scored 14 while Davion Bailey had 13. Pyke finished with a dozen and tied with Marcus Glover for team-high honors rebounding with six. After losing six straight, Incarnate Word has now won two in a row to even their overall mark at 11-11 on the season and 4-7 in conference action.
 
Houston Christian University drops to 10-12 on the season after having its four-game winning streak snapped. The Huskies are now 7-4 in the Southland and fall into a four-way tie for third in the league standings.
 
The final stop on the four-game road swing for the Huskies takes them from Alamo to Thibodaux in a quick return to Louisiana for a Monday night affair against Nicholls. The Colonels moved into that logjam with the Huskies after knocking off league-leading McNeese at home on Saturday afternoon.

HCU and Nicholls (13-9 overall and 7-4 in SLC play) are each now tied with Southeastern (13-9 / 7-4), who defeated UNO, and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (14-9 / 7-4) which lost to UTRGV. Lamar (13-9 / 8-3) took sole possession of second place, two games back of border rival McNeese, after holding on to best SFA on the road.
 
 
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