HBU

HBU Huskies Pull Away in Second Half to Advance at SLC Tourney

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KATY, Texas – In a game that saw nine lead changes and three ties in the first half, the 10th-seeded HBU men’s basketball team turned it on in the second half and pulled away to down the No. 7 seed UIW Cardinals on the opening night of the Southland Conference Tournament, 80-68, on Tuesday night at the Merrell Center.

The Huskies (6-18) missed their first four shot attempts of the game and fell into a quick 7-0 hole before junior Pedro Castro came up with a steal and a mid-range jumper on the other end to break HBU’s scoreless streak. Zach Iyeyemi came up with the next two baskets for the Huskies and a Brycen Long three-point put HBU ahead 9-7 at the 14:27 mark.

From that point, neither team led by more than four until another nine-point run by HBU put them ahead by five, 32-27, with just a minute left in the first half. UIW (8-14) trimmed that deficit over the final minute with a pair of baskets with Castro knocking down a pair of free throws for a 34-31 halftime lead for the Huskies.

HBU came out strong in the second half and took a six-point lead, 41-35, after an Iyeyemi layup but the Cardinals came back with their own push and used a 15-4 run to lead by four, 49-45, with just over 13 minutes left to play. Jade Tse came up with a huge three to get the Huskies back to within one and two minutes later back-to-back layups from Darius Lee and Castro gave HBU a 54-51 lead.

UIW’s Josh Morgan responded with a three to again even the score but HBU scored the next eight points to take a lead the Huskies wouldn’t relinquish the rest of the way. The Cardinals pulled as close as four but over the final four minutes the Huskies led by at least eight and extended their lead by knocking down their free throws late.

Castro matched a career-high and led all players with 21 points, just missing out on the double-double with nine rebounds. The junior was 6-of-14 from the floor and 8-of-9 from the foul line. He also registered three steals and three assists. Janacek, meanwhile, scored a season-high 18 on 6-of-10 shooting and grabbed seven boards.

Tse also had a career night, dishing out a career-best nine assists to go with seven points and a pair of steals. Iyeyemi was 5-of-9 from the floor for 10 points. As a team, the Huskies shot 50 percent (27-of-54) from the field and 43.8 percent (7-of-16) from three for the team’s best three-point shooting performance in nearly a month.

HBU advances to take on the No. 6 seed Lamar Cardinals on Wednesday, Mar. 10, at 8:00 p.m. The two teams split their season series.

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