HAMMOND, La. – The HBU men’s basketball team picked up its first road win of the season after closing the game on a 14-5 run over the final 4:35 to take down Southeastern Louisiana on Wednesday evening inside the University Center.
The Huskies (3-17, 3-8 SLC) picked up their first 12 points via the three with Jalon Gates contributing nine of those. Gates third three of the game came at the 15:23 mark and put HBU ahead 12-8. Back-to-back layups from Benjamin Uloko and Qon Murphy made it a five-point game with the Huskies leading 16-11 at 13:04.
The Lions (6-17, 3-9 SLC) scored the next two baskets to pull within one but HBU was again able to push its lead back to five, 24-19, on Gates’ fourth three of the night with 7:51 on the clock. The Huskies continued to build a lead that reached as high as nine on a Ty Dalton trey made it 35-26 with 3:44 remaining in the half. A little less than two minutes later, back-to-back threes pulled the Lions to within two, 38-36, with 55 seconds to go. Qon Murphy knocked down a three at the 33-second mark to push HBU back ahead by five for a 41-36 lead the Huskies would take into the half.
Jackson Stent hit a three from the corner on HBU’s first possession of the half to go up 44-36 but SLU scored the next seven points to cut it to a one-point game. The Lions’ run was stopped on an Ian DuBose tip-in at the 16:16 mark. Consecutive baskets from Tyron Brewer and Maxwell Starwood gave SLU its first lead, 47-46, since the 16:18 mark of the first half.
The Huskies answered with an 8-0 run to go back ahead 54-47 with 12:07 left on the clock. Southeastern then came right back with a 13-5 run to take a one-point lead with a little over eight minutes left. The teams then traded scores, going back and forth with the lead, until SLU went on a little run to lead 71-65 with 4:35 to go.
HBU then scored the next seven points, capped by a Myles Pierre free throw to lead 72-71 before SLU’s Von Julien evened things up at 72-72 with a free throw of his own with 2:32 showing on the clock. DuBose converted an and-one on the next possession to go ahead by three and immediately came up with a steal on the ensuing Lion possession and made the fast break layup to push HBU’s lead to five in a matter of seconds. SLU got a bucket but Pierre made a pair of free throws to get it back to five and a last second contested three-point attempt by Byron Smith was off the mark.
Gates led the Huskies with 19 points, 14 of which came in the first half, on 7-of-11 shooting from the floor and 5-of-9 from deep. DuBose set a new career-best with a game-high 14 rebounds while dishing out seven assists and scoring 10 points for his third double-double in the last four games.
Senior Jackson Stent finished with 11 points and matched his career-high on the boards, pulling down six rebounds. Sophomore Benjamin Uloko, meanwhile, was an efficient 6-of-9 from the floor for 16 points off the bench and added five rebounds.
After shooting 52.9 percent (9-of-17) from three in the first half the Huskies ended the night shooting 45.8 percent (11-of-24) from deep and 49.1 percent (27-of-55) from the field. For the seventh time in the last eight contests, the Huskies out-rebounded their opponent, holding a 45-40 advantage.
The Huskies are back on their home floor in Sharp Gym this Saturday, Feb. 8, when they host Northwestern State at 7:00 p.m. HBU will be wearing their mid-1970’s Hustlin’ Husky throwback uniforms against the Demons.