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HOUSTON – A big second half from Pedro Castro and a stingy team defensive effort in the final period helped lead the HBU men’s basketball past UIW to give the Huskies a season sweep of the Cardinals and keep HBU’s Southland Conference Tournament hopes alive on Wednesday evening in Sharp Gym.
Castro scored 16 points, including the Huskies’ (5-17, 4-10 SLC) final 10 points of the game, pulled down six rebounds, and blocked a pair of shots in the second half. The junior finished the night with his sixth double-double of the season consisting of 18 points and 11 rebounds, both game-highs.
After an early 9-4 HBU lead, the Cardinals (8-12, 5-8 SLC) answered to even the score at 11-11 with Logan Bracamonte scoring five of the team’s 7 points in a 7-2 run. The Huskies regained the lead quickly and pushed their lead up to six but a 10-0 burst by UIW left the Huskies trailing 23-19 with 8:45 to go in the half.
The Cardinals extended that lead to eight, their largest of the game, after a Keaston Willis layup at the 4:17 mark. A Darius Lee layup made it a two-point game but, again, UIW had an answer, and with a Drew Lutz three and led by six with a little over a minute left. Senior Philip McKenzie, who had five offensive rebounds in the first half, came up big late for the Huskies with a pair of baskets in the final minute and helped HBU trim its deficit to just three, 39-36, at the half.
UIW’s largest lead of the second was just five, coming less than three minutes in. After trailing 45-40, HBU used an 11-3 stretch to regain the lead and hold a 51-48 advantage after another Lee layup. The two teams went toe-to-toe from there with HBU never leading by more than five the rest of the way. UIW briefly held a one-point lead after back-to-back buckets from Des Balentine before a Zach Iyeyemi free throw and a three-pointer from Za-Ontay Boothman gave the Huskies a 57-54 lead with eight minutes to go.
A Boothman layup at 6:40 extended that lead back to five but a cold stretch allowed UIW to once again go ahead by one, 63-62, on another Balentine jumper with just 2:21 on the clock. Castro had an answer, however, just 12 seconds later with a three but UIW’s Derek Van Vlerah came right back to even the score on a layup. Castro stepped up again on the ensuing possession, burying another three to give HBU a lead they wouldn’t relinquish over the final 1:26 of the game.
HBU finished the game shooting 43.1 percent (28-of-65) from the floor and 33.3 percent from three (6-of-18). Meanwhile, after UIW shot 51.9 percent from the floor and 41.7 percent from three in the first half, the Huskies held the Cardinals to just 35.7 percent overall and 11.1 percent from beyond the arc in the second half.
Lee finished the night with 12 points on 6-of-9 shooting and added five rebounds while McKenzie added eight points and six boards. Freshman Jade Tse and Iyeyemi both also contributed eight points with Iyeyemi grabbing five rebounds and Tse dishing out four assists. Boothman also added eight points with Myles Pierre adding seven.
HBU also put on its best performance on the boards of the season, pulling down a season-best 16 offensive rebounds and owning a margin of +15 over the Cardinals, 44-29.
The Huskies are one of four teams vying for the final three spots in the SLC Tournament. Based on the points system being used by the conference this year, HBU holds 13 points and is currently in line to be the No. 10 seed. Lamar sits in eighth with 15 points, followed by McNeese with 14 while Central Arkansas is right behind HBU with 12.
The Huskies will have Senior Night and wrap up the regular season on Saturday, Mar. 6, at home against the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders at 5:00 p.m.
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