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KATY, Texas – Junior Pedro Castro and sophomore Zach Iyeyemi both had big nights that featured career-highs in various categories and combined for 39 points but the No. 10 seed HBU Huskies fell in the second round of the Southland Conference Tournament to the No. 6 seed Lamar Cardinals, 62-52, on Wednesday night at the Merrell Center.
HBU (6-19) came out cold, missing its first six shots and committing four turnovers before making its first basket while the Cardinals (9-17) knocked down their first three and built a 10-0 lead in the first four minutes. A Pedro Castro three at the 10:26 mark got the HBU deficit back to single-digits, 16-7, but Lamar came back with a 9-0 run to 25-7 two minutes later. The Lamar lead reached 19, 31-12, before the Huskies closed the half with a 9-4 advantage over the final 3:04 of the period to trail 35-21 at halftime.
In the second half, a Davion Buster layup brought the score to 43-26 before Zach Iyeyemi scored the next six points, off second-chance buckets off offensive rebounds, to cut the Lamar lead to nine. Each time HBU started to make inroads, however, Lamar answered. The Cardinals went back ahead by 16 before Jade Tse accounted for the next five points to cut it to 55-44 with just under three minutes left before the Cardinals scored the next six, all on free throws, to put the game fully out of reach.
Castro led all players with a career-best 24 points on 10-of-19 shooting, including 4-of-7 from beyond the arc, and also nabbed eight rebounds and a career-high five steals. In two tournament games, the junior averaged 22.5 points and 8.5 rebounds.
Iyeyemi, meanwhile, posted his first career double-double with 15 points and a career-high 12 rebounds. Eight of his 12 rebounds came on the offensive glass. The sophomore was 7-of-12 shooting the ball. Tse added nine for the Huskies.
HBU shot just 33.3 percent (21-of-63) from the floor and 25 percent (4-of-16) from three while the Cardinals knocked down 47.2 percent (25-of-52). HBU held a 40-35 advantage on the boards and committed 15 turnovers to Lamar’s 14.
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