HOUSTON --- A cold final seven minutes doomed Houston Christian University, which saw a late lead slip away in falling to Southeastern Louisiana University in a 69-60 slugfest on Monday evening in Sharp Gym. HCU led 56-54 with 6:59 to play, but scored just four points down the stretch as SLU avenged a loss two weeks ago to even the season series.
Southeastern jumped out to a five-point edge as the Huskies scored just two points before a three-pointer by
D'Aundre Samuels nearly six minutes into the contest. The Bazil brothers then combined for six straight points, two on free throws from
Porter Bazil and four straight on a pair of charity shots and a layup by
Pierce Bazil, the later knotting things up at 11 with 12:31 showing on the scoreboard.
HCU would take the lead 15-13 on a back-to-back layups from
Bryson Dawkins and
Julian Mackey. The Lions roared back with a 10-2 burst, capped by two free throws from Jakevion Buckley. The two teams would continue to go back and forth, neither able to pull away. A rebound from Dawkins led to a run-out from Mackey, who slammed it home to give HCU the lead back, 26-25 with 1:54 to play in the half.
A pair of Brody Rowbury free throws gave SLU a short-lived lead, as
D'Aundre Samuels three-pointer with just six seconds left handed the Huskies a 27-26 edge heading into the intermission.
The Huskies got out of the gate quickly to begin the second frame. Three-pointers from
Trent Johnson and
Julian Mackey sandwiched a nice sequence from Samuels, who blocked a shot on one end and finished on the other, as the Huskies pushed out to an eight-point lead, 37-29 just over two-and-a-half minutes in.
Four straight points from Buckley capped an 8-0 run for SLU to tie the game however. Moments later that run grew to 15-2 on a conventional three-point play from Buckley, giving the visitors 44-39 lead with 12:32 still to play. The Huskies would fight back, and a three-pointer from
Peyton Rogers was followed by a short jumper and harm for Mackey, who converted the freebie for a three-point play to even it it all up at 47 at the 9:18 mark.
A go-ahead tip-in by SLU's Jeremy Elyzee was answered with hits from deep by Dawkins and Mackey. Dawkins would then get a nice back-door and-one, giving HCU a 56-54 lead with 6:59 to go on the evening.
The Huskies then went cold, scoring just four points on 2-9 shooting over the final stretch. The Lions took advantage, tying things on a tough jumper by Sam Hines, Jr. and going ahead for good on a layup by Buckley with 5:34 to play. Buckley would score eight points in the 13-4 run for Southeastern that closed things out and earned a split of the season series.
HCU shot just 43% on the night, including 28% from the arc and 56% from the line. The Huskies committed just nine turnovers and matched a season-high with five blocked shots.
The Huskies were led by
Julian Mackey who posted his 10
th 20-point night of the season with 25, while adding five rebounds, three assists and two steals.
Bryson Dawkins scored 12 and
D'Aundre Samuels had a good night all-around with 10 points, a season-high seven rebounds, four assists and a career-high three blocks.
Southeastern improves to 16-9 overall and 10-4 in conference play. After starting the conference slate 0-3, the Lions have now vaulted into a tie for second place with Lamar, who knocked off A&M-Corpus Christi on Monday. The Lions shook off a tough night from the floor and arc by knocking down 21-26 from the free throw line. SLU outrebounded HCU 41-28, including 15 on the offensive backboards to win for the 10th time in their last 11conference games.
Jakevion Buckley tied for game-high scoring honors as he led the Lions with 25 points, just one game after setting a career-high with 27 on Saturday. Named SLC Player of the Week earlier in the day, the senior guard went 7-10 from the floor and 11-13 from the charity stripe while also pulling down seven boards. Four others dented double-figures, with Sam Hines Jr. scoring a dozen and Brody Rowbury and Jeremy Elyzee added 11 each. Rowbury had a game-high eight caroms and Elyzee added six of his own.
Houston Christian University is now 11-14 on the year and fall to 8-6 in the conference where they sit in a three-way tie for fourth place with TAMUCC and Northwestern State, who won on the road at Nicholls.
A two-game road trip down the coast for return games now beckons the Huskies. HCU will travel to Edinburg for a Saturday tilt against UTRGV before taking on Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Monday night. The Huskies took the previous meetings with both the Vaqueros and Islanders in Sharp Gym in January.
#DawgsUp
