🆚 Northwestern State University
📆 Saturday – February 21, 2026
⏰ 3:30 pm CT
🏟️ Prather Coliseum – Natchitoches, Louisiana
📈 LIVE STATS
📺 ESPN+
🗒️ Game NOTES
🆚 East Texas A&M University
📆 Monday – February 23, 2026
⏰ 6:30 pm CT
🏟️ The Field House – Commerce Texas
📈 LIVE STATS
📺 ESPN+
🗒️ Game NOTES (Sunday)
Houston Christian University embarks on an important final road trip of the regular season with games at Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, Louisiana on Saturday and East Texas A&M University on Monday evening in Commerce. The two-game swing carries significant postseason implications as the Huskies sit in a three-way tie with both NSU and ETAMU for the eighth and final berth in the Southland Conference Tournament with just four games remaining in the campaign.
The Huskies are coming off a thriller in Sharp Gymnasium on Monday night as they raced out to double-figure leads in both halves before rallying in the final five minutes to
outlast Nicholls State University 72-68. The second straight down-to-the-wire home win allowed HCU to move into the three-way logjam in eighth place
Mambourou Mara went on personal attack on the rim, smashing home three dunks and a layup over an eight-minute, 19-5 burst. That run, capped by a jumper by
Trent Johnson, gave the Huskies a 27-12 lead with 6:44 to play before the break. HCU would lead by six, 35-29 at the intermission.
HCU pumped the lead back up to double-digits early in the second half, but Nicholls was determined to not go away. Over a seven-minute span, the Colonels used a swarming defense that ignited a huge run to recapture the lead. Jaylen Searles got things started with two triples and a pair of free throws, and back-to-back three balls from Zee Hamoda and Nick Krass finished off the 20-3 blitz that handed the Colonels a 55-53 advantage with six minutes to play.
Trailing 59-55 with 4:48 to go, the Huskies made their decisive push. A three from
Ryan Bartley was followed by another dunk from Mara, pulling the Huskies to within one. After a missed three by Searles as the shot clock dwindled out,
Kylin Green went coast-to-coast for the hoop and harm, converting the three-point play that sent the home crowd into a frenzy and gave HCU the lead for good, 63-61 with just over three minutes left.
The Huskies put five players in double-digits, highlighted by career-nights from both
Mambourou Mara and
Demarco Bethea. Mara posted the first double-double of his career, scoring a season-high 15 points while hauling down a career-best 13 boards while also blocking three shots.
Demarco Bethea added a career-high 15 points on 7-9 shooting from the floor while also pulling in six caroms.
Kylin Green went 10-11 from the charity stripe, both career-highs, to finish with a dozen points along with his four boards and six helpers.
Ryan Bartley added 11 and
Trent Johnson had 10 points, three rebounds and three assists.
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 in early December 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.
The Huskies are now 10-17 on the season and 6-12 in conference play and sit in that three-way tie with Northwestern State and East Texas A&M for the eighth and final playoff spot. The games with NSU and ETAMU are the second meetings this year as the Huskies defeated both in the first two games of four-game homestand at the end of January.
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 10.3 points to go with 4.0 boards and 4.7 assists per night. The 13 assists by Green against ULM (11/13) were the most in a game for HCU since Mike Moss had 13 vs. Chicago State in 2011 and he currently third in the SLC in assists per game. He had his third double-digit assist effort of the season with 10 along with the game-winning basket with 4.3 seconds remaining in the 82-80 win over Northwestern State (1/19), becoming the first HCU player with three such outings in a season since Ricky Bennett in 2003-04.
His six dimes vs. UIW (1/27) put him at 104 to become the first HCU player to hit the century mark in a single-season since Ian DuBose had 111 during the 2019-20 campaign. With his six assists in back-to-back games against UNO (2/14) and Nicholls (2/16) Green pushed his season total to 126, the most by an HCU player since Anthony Odunsi had 123 during the 2015-16 campaign.
Since the Christmas break,
Demari Williams has provided a huge spark for the Huskies, first off the bench before then making his first start of the season at UIW.
He has scored in double-figures 10 times in the 14 games since returning from the holiday. In those 14 games (13 starts) Williams is one of just two HCU players averaging double-digits, leading the Huskies in scoring (14 ppg) while shooting 47% from the floor, 34% from deep and 81% from the charity stripe. The redshirt junior from Fulshear is averaging a team-best 12.5 ppg as well as 4.0 rebounds in conference action.
Williams had a then career-best 19 points in the loss at then No. 3 Iowa State in the first game back (Dec. 29) and broke it five days later with his first-ever 20-point night, scoring 22 in the loss to UIW (1/3). That high then fell as well in the homestand finale, as Williams led a huge rally against UIW (1/27) with his 24 points on a career-best 13-14 from the free throw line. Williams averaged 23 points and six rebounds on 15-23 (65%) shooting from the field in the two regular-season games against UIW.
The Huskies have three players in double-figures overall on the season as Williams has joined the fray at 10.0 with his run over the last month-and-a-half. In conference action, the Huskies also have three players in double-figures with Williams (12.5) passing
Elijah Brooks (11.5) for the team lead while
Demarco Bethea averages 10.5 and also leads HCU on the backboards at 5.6 per in conference action. Bethea is one of three players averaging four or more caroms in SLC play.
Ryan Bartley (9.3), Green (9.2),
D'Aundre Samuels (8.6) and
Trent Johnson (8.3), give the Huskies seven players at eight points or more in Southland action.
Samuels has come on over the past 11 games, starting 10 of those games. In that stretch, he is averaging 11.1 points, 4.1 caroms and 2.8 assists while shooting 34% from the arc. On the four-game homestand (Jan 17-27), he averaged 11 points, 4.8 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2.0 steals, then upped his scoring to 12.8 on the four-game road trip. He had 15 points and the game-winning runner in the win over UNO last Saturday.
Bartley shot 9-19 from the arc on the four-game road stretch, including matching his career-best with four at TAMUCC on January 31. He is now 16-38 (42.1%) from long distance over his last 11 games.
Bethea posted a career-best 15 points in the win over Nicholls (2/16) after matching his career-high of 14 three separate times this season. He recorded his first-ever double-double with 14 points and a career-high 10 rebounds against UTRGV (1/24).
Mambourou Mara has 12 games this season with two or more blocks, including three games with three and two outings with his career-high of four (Southern Arkansas / ULM). He is currently fourth in the Southland in blocks with 1.5 per game.
Last Thursday,
Trent Johnson was selected to the
E*TRADE Men's 3-Point contest "watch list" as part of 37th annual State Farm College Slam Dunk & 3-Point Championships at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis on Friday, April 3. The event will be broadcast nationally on ESPN on Sunday (April 5). Johnson is currently averaging 8.5 points per game for the Huskies while knocking down 42.6% of his tries from long distance. He is 18th in the Southland Conference in three-pointers per game at 1.7 and is also hitting a robust 84.3% from the free throw line.
HCU and Northwestern State will be meeting for the 46th time with the Demons holding a 25-20 lead in the series. The two schools were conference foes in the Trans America Athletic Conference (now Atlantic Sun) from 1979-84 and the Demons lead the series since HCU joined the Southland at 11-7. HCU picked up its first-ever Southland victory with a 98-97 win over the Demons on January 11, 2014 in Sharp Gym.
The Huskies won the first game between the two this season on January 19 in the second game of the four-game homestand. HCU rallied from a 10-point deficit with nine minutes to play,
securing an 82-80 victory on a layup by
Kylin Green with 4.3 seconds remaining.
Demari Williams led the Huskies with 16 points while Green added a double-double with 14 points and 10 assists. Micah Thomas had 17 points and four assists and Willie Williams added 15 for NSU.
Thomas, a 6'0 senior, paces third-year Head Coach Rick Cabrera's club at 17.2 points per game in conference play. He adds 2.7 assists and shoots 34% from the arc. Izzy Miles, a 6'2 junior guar averages 11.1 points and hits at a 36% clip from deep while Willie Williams, a 6'6 senior forward averages 9.7 points and 8.6 rebounds on 64% shooting from the floor in SLC action for the Demons, who come into the contest at 8-19 overall and 6-12 in league.
The four-game homestand in late January opened with a game against
East Texas A&M, an 81-70 win for the Huskies in Sharp Gym. HCU trailed by double-figures in the first half, then broke away from a tie game with 10 to play, holding the Lions to just seven points over a decisive nine-minute stretch late.
Trent Johnson had a then career-high 19 points as well as a career-best six assists to lead the Huskies, who also got 15 points, five caroms, six dimes and a career-high five pilfers from
D'Aundre Samuels. Damian Garcia led ET with 19 points while Ronnie Harrison added 18.
ETAMU is led by ninth-year head coach Jaret von Rosenberg, who has the Lions sitting at 11-17 overall and 6-12 in the league. The Huskies lead the all-time series with ET 7-6, with each having won just one time on the others hardwood.
Harrison, a 6'8 junior forward, leads the Lions at 18 points per game in conference play while adding six boards per. Gianni Hunt, a 6'4 senior guard, is second in the league in assists at 4.9 while averaging 11.6 points and 4.1 rebounds in conference action. 6'5 senior guard Garcia averages 11 points and 3.8 boards while Noah Pagotto, a 6'8 junior forward checks in at 11 points and a team-best 6.6 rebounds.
The Huskies are 5-5 all-time on February 21, last playing in 2018 in an 87-73 loss at Lamar. The last victory HCU on this date was against NJIT in 2009, a 70-51 win in Sharp Gym. A 7-6 ledger is held on February 23, with the last time playing behind an 85-80 victory over McNeese in 2023.
After the completion of this road trip, there will be just two games remaining in the regular season, both coming at home. HCU hosts Stephen F. Austin on Saturday afternoon, February 28 and the following Monday night against Lamar University. Both contests will be the back-end of doubleheaders with the HCU women.
#DawgsUp
