CANTON, Illinois --- Houston Christian University pulled away from Western Illinois University midway through the second half to earn its first win away from home on the campaign, a 74-67 decision at the Spoon River College Multi-Purpose Building on Saturday evening.
HCU fell behind early as a dunk from Daivion Traylor gave the Leathernecks an early 7-2 lead. WIU continue to lead seven minutes in after a free throw by Jack Riley made the score 14-10. The Huskies then mounted their first charge of the evening, storming to an 18-14 lead behind two dunks from
Shawn Simmons II and a layup by
Jonas Nichols on the break.
The teams would then trade baskets for the better part of the next six minutes. A layup by
Chris Mubiru put the Huskies ahead, and a pilfer and finish on the other end by
Bubz Alvarez gave the Huskies a 28-24 lead as the clock ticked under five minutes to go in the first frame.
The Huskies lead would grow to eight on a three-ball on the break by
Aiden Miller with 2:58 to go and HCU would then carry a 37-31 lead into the intermission.
Western came out firing out of the break, knotting things up at 37 on a slam by Traylor right at three minutes in. The teams remained deadlocked at 47 before a layup by
Jonas Nichols and a dunk by Alvarez on the break began a game-deciding spurt. Another layup from Nichols forced a Leatherneck timeout, and out of the stoppage, Nichols nailed a three-ball on the break to push the HCU advantage to seven. Another score in the paint by Nichols pushed the HCU edge to its largest of the evening at nine, 60-51 with 9:38 left.
From there, the Huskies would ward off a couple of bursts by the Leathernecks. Western cut the deficit to five on a jumper by Makai Kvamme with 8:59 to go, and later to six on a layup by Danny Stevens with 5:40 to play. That would be as close as the hosts would get, as HCU battened down the hatches on defense down the stretch and hit four free throws in the final minute to close things out.
HCU shot 55% on the evening from the floor and made good on the 16 turnovers it forced from WIU to the tune of a 29-19 edge in points of those giveaways. There was also a formidable advantage off the pine, as the HCU bench brigade outscored that of the Leathernecks 49-29.
Bubz Alvarez led all players with 16 points and eight rebounds, both of which represented career-highs. He was one of four Huskies in double-digits, followed by
Jonas Nichols with 15,
Max Alexander with a dozen and
Shawn Simmons II with 10.
Chris Mubiru had five rebounds and personal-best four steals while
Esyah Pippa-White led HCU with five assists.
Danny Stephens led Western Illinois (0-2) with 15 points. Daivion Traylor had 12 and Makai Kvamme added 11, while Davee Flowers added eight and a team-high six caroms.
HCU won its second straight game to open the campaign, the first 2-0 start to a season since the Huskies won their first two in the Rainbow Classic in 2012-13. HCU will take on Western Illinois again later in the month when the Leathernecks return the trip to Sharp Gym.
The two-game stay away from home concludes on Tuesday when the Huskies head to Vermillion, South Dakota to take on former Great West Conference foe University of South Dakota. Tip-off from the Sanford Coyote Sports Center is scheduled for 7 pm.
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