HOUSTON --- Houston Christian University took the lead early and never looked back, cruising to an 81-68 win over University of New Orleans at Sharp Gymnasium on Saturday afternoon. The Huskies used a big night at the three-point line, connecting on a season-high 17, to rebound from a two-game losing streak and sweep the season series from the Privateers.
The two teams opened by trading baskets over the first two minutes. Kohn Rowbatham's layup gave the Privateers an early 4-3 lead and two minutes later a layup by Leland Coleman knotted the game at eight for UNO.
Bryson Dawkins layup pushed HCU ahead, but the visitors tied things up again on an offensive putback from MJ Thomas.
Porter Bazil then knocked down consecutive three-pointers giving HCU a lead they would end up not relinquishing the rest of the way. A layup by
Pierce Bazil was followed by a steal from
D'Aundre Samuels and a push ahead to a streaking Dawkins for a reverse layin.
Julian Mackey sent home a three-ball out of a two-man game with
Peyton Rogers to hand HCU a 24-13 lead at the 10:18 mark, finishing off a 14-3 burst over a six-minute stretch.
The Privateers would cut their deficit to six on a three-ball by Rowbatham, but that just ingnited another run from the Huskies. This time it was the usual suspects,
Bryson Dawkins and
Julian Mackey, pumping in eight points apiece as part of a 16-5 run that pushes the HCU lead to its largest of the half at 17, 40-23. The lead would be 11 at the break, 42-31.
The margin was cut to nine right out of the second half chute, but
Trent Johnson pushed it back to 12 on a triple. The lead would remain around a dozen for the better part of the next 10 minutes and
D'Aundre Samuels stepback splash would give HCU a 14-point margin, 63-49 with 8:44 left. The lead would drop below double-digits just one time the rest of the way.
Porter Bazil, Samuels and finally Dawkins would all hit from deep once more to get the Huskies to 17 triples and proved the final 13-point margin.
HCU finished the afternoon shooting 47% from the floor and 43% from the arc, knocking down 17 of its 40 attempts, both season-highs. The 17 three-point barrage was the most in a game for the Huskies since setting a program-record with 22 in a 122-44 victory over Barclay in 2021. There were also 19 helpers dished out to mark a season-best as well for the Huskies, assisting on 19 of 29 made shots.
Julian Mackey led the Huskies with his ninth 20-point effort of the campaign, scoring 27 points on 10-19 shooting from the floor and 5-12 from the arc.
Bryson Dawkins chipped in his sixth 20-point game on the season, and fourth in his last six outings, with his 22 points on 8-13 from the field and 3-7 from distance. He also had five boards while posting a career-high six assists on the evening.
D'Aundre Samuels tied two career-highs with his four triples and three steals, as he scored 14 points, grabbed five boards, and added three assists.
Porter Bazil added nine on three triples, matching his career high of three set against these same Privateers in New Orleans two weeks ago.
Trent Johnson chipped in a career-high five helpers as well.
UNO (4-20, 2-11 SLC) shot 52% for the day and 85% from the line and outrebounded HCU 31-27. The Privateers had 17 turnovers however that turned into 21 points for the hosts. MJ Thomas had a double-double with 18 points and a game-high 11 rebounds for New Orleans. Coleman and Rowbatham had 13 each while Theo Grant had 11.
Houston Christian University is now 11-13 on the season and sit at 8-5 in the Southland tied with Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, who was upset by SFA 78-64 in Nacogdoches. The two sit behind Nicholls, Southeastern and Lamar, each who won on Saturday to move to 9-4. McNeese continues to pace the league at 12-1.
The Huskies return to Sharp Gym on Monday night to conclude the quick two-game homestand in another showdown with Southeastern Louisiana. HCU snapped SLU's six-game winning streak with a 70-62 win in Hammond two Monday's ago.
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