🆚 Lamar University
📆 Monday – January 12, 2026
⏰ 6 pm CT
🏟️ Neches Arena at the Montagne Center - Beaumont, Texas
📈 LIVE STATS
📺 ESPN+
Houston Christian University completes a pair of games on the road with a trip to the Golden Triangle on Monday evening to take on Lamar University. Tip-off from Neches Arena at The Montagne Center in Beaumont is scheduled for 6 pm.
The Huskies dug an early hole in the Piney Woods and never recovered, falling 85-67 to Stephen F. Austin on Saturday evening. The Huskies battled back from to trail by just three midway through the first half before the Jacks closed with a 22-10 run over the final nine minutes to effectively put the game out of reach.
Demari Williams led the Huskies with 15 points, the fourth double-digit outing in his last five games and
Mambourou Mara matched his season-high with 12 points.
D'Aundre Samuels had a solid all-around effort with 11 points to go with a game-high of seven boards and a team-leading five assists.
Ryan Bartley had 10 points for the Huskies, who shot 49% on the evening, but just 29% from long range. HCU saw its hosts turn it over just six times while grabbing 18 offensive rebounds as part of a plus-10 on the backboards.
Craig Doty, the ninth head coach in program history, is now in his second season at the helm after guiding HCU to a 12-20 overall mark and 9-11 ledger in Southland Conference action in 2024-25. It was announced earlier in the week that
Doty has signed a contract extension through the 2029-30 season.
The Huskies doubled their success rate from the previous season, going from six total wins to 12 and from four victories to nine in conference play, finishing seventh in the league after being picked to finish last. HCU advanced to the Southland Tournament and saw
Bryson Dawkins named All-Conference as just the second player in program history to pick up SLC First Team honors.
Elijah Brooks, who missed the first four games of the season and has not played since returning from the Christmas break, still leads HCU at 12.3 points per night while also chipping in 4.5 boards, 3.1 assists and 1.5 steals per game.
Kylin Green is just behind him at 11.9 points to go with 4.2 boards and is second in the Southland Conference at 5.1 assists per game. He had a career-high 24 points in the loss over Thanksgiving week to Bellarmine and also registered a career-best 13 assists in the victory over ULM on November 13, the most in a game for HCU since Mike Moss had 13 against Chicago State in 2011. Green flirted with a triple-double in the overtime home loss to Southeastern, finishing with eight points, nine boards and 10 assists, and is averaging 5.5 assists through six conference games.
A slow start to the season saw
Ryan Bartley score just 20 total points and shoot 2-16 from deep over the first four games of the season. He then went 20-50 for 40% over the next 10 games, posting seven double-figure scoring games in that stretch with a season-best 16 in the conference opening victory at New Orleans and a career-high 4-8 showing from the arc in a home loss to McNeese. Bartley averaged over 11 per game over that span to up his season average a tick over nine points per game.
Demari Williams had provided a huge spark off the bench as of late before making his first start of the season at UIW. Williams had a then career-best 19 points in the loss at No. 3 Iowa State and then broke it five days later with his first-ever 20-point night, scoring 22 in the loss to UIW. He has scored in double-figures four times in his last five outings, and over his last eight games is averaging 11.9 points and four rebounds in 25.2 minutes per while shooting 50% from the field. In the last three games, all starts, Williams is shooting 50% and scoring 14.7 per.
While putting just two players in double-digit scoring in all games, the Huskies have a quintet of players notching double-figures in conference play. Brooks (11.5) leads the way, followed closely by Williams (11.3) while
Kylin Green (10.6),
Ryan Bartley (10.4) and
Demarco Bethea (10.3) round out the handful.
Bethea leads the Huskies at 5.1 boards per night in conference play, upping his season averages to 4.1. He is averaging 8.9 points per game on the year and has set and then matched twice his career-high of 14 points, most recently in the home loss to TAMUCC. He leads the Huskies with his 59.6% shooting percentage.
The game with Lamar represents the shortest road trip of the season for HCU, traveling just under 100 miles east on I-10 to Beaumont. HCU and Lamar have met 32 times with the Cardinals holding a 21-11 lead. That margin is just 14-9 in conference play, as the two schools have split the season series six times since 2013-14. The Huskies last won at the Montagne Center in 2017, winning 75-68. LU took the season series last year, winning 63-61 in the Golden Triangle on January 4 before outlasting the Huskies 66-58 in Houston on February 24.
Lamar is helmed by 44-year coaching veteran Alvin Brooks, who is now in his fifth year in charge of his alma mater. Brooks played his final two collegiate seasons with the Cardinals before embarking on his coaching career in 1981 as an assistant at Lamar. The Cardinals snapped a two-game skid on Saturday with a 63-51 home victory over UIW, improving to 8-8 overall and 3-4 in SLC play. Lamar is first in the league in blocked shots per game at 4.75 per.
Rob Lee Jr., a 6'2 transfer guard from Wayne State, leads the Cardinals in scoring at 14.5 points while shooting 37.4% from long range. He is tied for ninth in the league at two triples made a game. Andrew Holifield, a 6'10 senior forward, registers 13.8 points, 5.4 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 2.0 blocks, good for second in the league. Braden East, a 6'9 forward leads the league in rebounding at 8.3 overall and checks in at 9.0 in conference action.
The Huskies have a 9-1 mark at home on January 12, but are 0-6 in road games for a 9-7 overall mark. HCU last played on this date in 2023, a 68-59 Sharp win over then Texas A&M-Commerce, now East Texas A&M.
Following the Monday night tilt with the Cardinals, HCU returns home to begin a season-long four-game homestand when it hosts East Texas A&M on January 17.
#DawgsUp
