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🆚 University of New Orleans
📆 Sunday – March 8, 2026
⏰ 5 pm CT
🏟️ Townsley Law Arena – Lake Charles, Louisiana
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HCU takes on University of New Orleans in the first round of the 2026 Air Force Reserve Southland Basketball Championships on Sunday at 5 pm. The #8-seed Huskies and #5-seed Privateers will meet for third time this season, this at the Townsley Law Arena on the campus of two-time defending Southland champion McNeese.
 
Needing a win on the final night of the regular season, Houston Christian University secured its spot in the South- land Conference Tournament with a resounding 75-53 victory over Lamar University on Monday night. The Huskies pulled away in the second half in front of a crazed "Senior Night" crowd, winning what essentially had become a play-in game, what with UIW's earlier loss to SFA on Monday night making the winner in Sharp Gym the final entrant into next week's SLC postseason party.
 
The Huskies trailed 11-10 before a 9-0 run that was finished off by a soft floater from Ryan Bartley and a three-pointer from Trent Johnson to grab a 19-11 cushion with just under nine minutes remaining in the first half. Demarco Bethea converted an acrobatic finish on the fastbreak to give HCU its first double-digit lead and by the 4:35 mark and the lead would grow to 14 on a Mambourou Mara layup, 29-15.
 
Lamar cut a 29-24 haltime deficit to one on back-to-back scores from Rob Lee, Jr.. Bartley converted a four-point play when he drilled a three-pointer and was fouled in the act, knocking down the charity shot for a 35-28 lead. Moments later, three free throws by D'Aundre Samuels gave HCU a 41-32 lead with 15:01 to go.
 
From there the Huskies got defensive, holding the Cardinals to just seven points over the next seven minutes. That stretch was capped by a thunderous highlight-reel alley-oop jam from Mambourou Mara that sent the crowd bonkers and pushed HCU's lead to 53-39 with 7:29 to go, and the Huskies cruised from that point on to earn their spot in the postseason.
 
HCU placed four players in double-digits, led by Ryan Bartley's 15. Demarco Bethea had 14 points and six boards, while Kylin Green and D'Aundre Samuels each had 13 points. Green added team-highs of eight boards and five assists. Samuels chipped in six boards and three assists, Mambourou Mara had nine points, seven boards two blocks and two steals and Trent Johnson had nine points and four steals
 
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.
 
HCU posted a 12-19 mark in the regular season, including an 8-14 mark in conference action, despite playing the majority of the second half down to 10 players. The losses included Elijah Brooks, who missed the first four games of the campaign and has not played since returning from the Christmas break. He was leading the Huskies at 12.3 points per night while also chipping in 4.5 boards, 3.1 assists and 1.5 steals per game when he went down for the season.
 
The Huskies started the SLC campaign at 1-7 but responded with a much-needed 3-1 homestand (Jan 17-27) that concluded with a come-from-behind victory over UIW. However, the ensuing four-game road swing (Jan 31-Feb 9) went the opposite direction, as HCU dropped all four contests, putting the Huskies in a precarious position heading into the home stretch. Houston Christian proceeded to win four of its final six games that allowed it to nip Lamar and Incarnate Word at the finish line and qualify for the Southland Conference Tournament.
 
Kylin Green is just behind him at 10.2 points to go with 3.9 boards and 4.5 assists per night. He had six dimes vs. UIW (1/27) putting him at 104 to become just the second player to hit the century mark in a single-season in the last six years. He is just the fifth player to go over 120 in a season since the Huskies returned to Division I in 2007-08, and his current 141 is the most in a single-season since Braxton Bonds had 158 total and averaged 5.1 during the 2017-18 campaign. The 13 assists by Green against ULM on November 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 (4.7). 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 win over Northwestern State (1/19), the first HCU player with three such outings in a season since Ricky Bennett in 2003-04.
 
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 11 times in the 17 games since returning from the holiday. In those 17 games (15 starts) Williams is the only Husky to average double-digits, leading the Huskies in scoring (12.8 ppg) while shooting 47% from the floor, 35% from deep and 80% from the charity stripe. The redshirt junior from Fulshear is averaging a team-best 11.7 ppg as well as 3.8 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 two players in double-figures overall on the season with Williams dipping back down under 10 following the loss at Northwestern State. He is now at 9.7 following his run over the last two months, and Demarco Bethea has passed him, right on the cusp of double-digits at 9.9 per game.
 
In conference action, the Huskies do have three players in double-figures with Williams (11.7) sitting just ahead of Elijah Brooks (11.5) for the team lead while Demarco Bethea averages 10.8 and also leads HCU on the backboards at 5.6 per in conference action. Bethea is one of six players averaging 3.7 or more caroms in SLC play. Ryan Bartley (9.5), Green (9.3) and D'Aundre Samuels (8.6) give the Huskies six players at eight points or more in Southland action with Trent Johnson at tick back at 7.9 per.
 
One week after scoring a career-best 15 points against Nicholls (2/16) Demarco Bethea returned to East Texas A&M for the first time since transferring from there, and matched that output in the Huskies 69-68 victory (2/23). He had previously set and matched his career-best 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 14 games this season with two or more blocks, including three games with three and three outings with his career-high of four (Southern Arkansas / ULM / SFA). He is currently fourth in the Southland in blocks with 1.5 per game. Mara had two blocks at East Texas A&M (2/23) to give him 40 on the season, the first HCU player to hit 40 since Isaiah Robinson had 57 in 2015-16 and Josh Ibarra had 55 in 2014-15. He now sits at 46 on the year. Mara, who set a career-high with three steals against ETAMU (1/17), broke that mark with five against the Lions in the 69-68 win in Commerce (2/23)
 
D'Aundre Samuels has come on over the past 15 games, starting 13 of those. In that stretch, he is averaging 10.5 points, 4.1 caroms and 2.7 assists. 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 (2/14).
 
Ryan 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. Bartley is now 20-53 (38%) from long distance over his last 15 games.
 
Trent Johnson has now set and broken his career-high in scoring on three occasions this season. After scoring 17 against ULM (11/13) and then matching it twice, Johnson went 7-8 from the floor and 3-4 from deep to score to set a new mark with his 19 points in the win over East Texas A&M (1/17) in the first game of the homestand. That mark didn't last long as he registered his first career 20-piece in the win over UIW (1/27) 10 days later. He has a career-best five-3's on two occasions this season and also established a new best with his eight assists against UTRGV (1/24).
 
On February 12, 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 8.2 points per game for the Huskies while knocking down 40.5% 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 83.6% from the free throw line.
 
New Orleans finished the regular season with a 14-17 overall record and 12-10 mark in conference play in Head Coach Stacy Hollowell's second season at the helm on the Lakefront.
 
The Privateers are led by 6'2 senior guard Coleton Benson and 6'2 senior guard Jakevion Buckley, who were each named to the SLC All-Conference second team on Friday.
 
Benson leads the team in scoring, averaging 16 points overall but 17.2 points in conference action, which includes a 35% clip from the three-point line. Buckley, who is on his third team in the SLC (SLU and Lamar previously), averaged 14.4 points and 4.3 rebounds while leading the league in assists at 6.1 per game. UNO also boasts SLC All-Defensive team member Churchill Abass, a 6'10 center who averages 8.5 points, 5.5 boards and 1.8 blocked shots, second in the league.
 
Sunday will mark the third meeting of the season between HCU and New Orleans, with the Huskies having swept the regular season series. New Orleans still leads the all-time series 17-10 but HCU has now won the last four meetings.
 
HCU defeated UNO 85-76 in the Big Easy in the conference opener on December 6 before pulling out a 61-60 nail-biter on Valentine's Day in Houston. The Huskies sank the Privateers at the death when D'Aundre Samuels floater on the right baseline with 1.6 seconds remaining found nothing but nylon  
 
HCU won the opener in New Orleans when after leading by one at the break they opened things up before staving off a second-half run by the hosts. The Huskies led by as many as 17 and placed five players in double-digits, led by Elijah Brooks who had 18 points to go with seven boards and five assists. Demarco Bethea chipped in 12 points and nine boards while Kylin Green added 11 points and nine assists. UNO was led by Coleton Benson with a game-high 26 points including 5-9 from long range.
 
The Huskies claimed the sweep in Houston by holding off a furious rally down the stretch that gave the Privateers the lead. HCU led by 10 with five to go, but the visitors took the lead with 14 seconds left after Abass split a pair of free throws. Samuels then sent the home folks crazy with a soft runner from the right baseline and a last-ditch heave by Buckley at the horn fell by the wayside. Samuels would lead the Huskies with 15 points on the day with Ryan Bartley and Demarco Bethea pitching in 13 apiece. Abass went for 18 and nine boards as the Huskies held Benson and Buckley to just eight points apiece.
 
This marks the eighth appearance for the Huskies in the Southland Conference Tournament since joining the league in 2013-14. It is the first back-to-back berths since a three-year run from 2021-23, and will be the second time to face New Orleans in the tournament, as the Privateers claimed a 90-69 win in the first round of 2022-23. HCU is 3-7 all-time in the SLC postseason.
 
The 2026 Southland Conference Tournament runs from March 8-11, hosted by McNeese at the Townsley Law Arena in Lake Charles, Louisiana. The winner of Sunday's game will advance to take on fourth-seeded Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at 5 pm on Monday evening. Stephen F. Austin, the regular season champion, and host McNeese, are the top two seeds and received the double-byes into the tournament semifinals.  
 
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