SAN ANTONIO, Texas – HBU never trailed as the Huskies earned a 73-57 Southland Conference road victory against the UIW Cardinals on Wednesday evening inside the McDermott Convocation Center.
In the early going, the teams traded buckets but consecutive three-pointers from Brycen Long and Hunter Janacek stake the Huskies (3-12, 2-5 SLC) to a 13-7 lead just before the first media timeout. The next five points went to the Cardinals (6-7, 3-3 SLC) to cut it back to a one-point game less than a minute and a half later.
HBU once again built its lead to five but a four-plus minute scoreless stretch allowed UIW to hang around and tie things up, 19-19, with 7:45 left to play in the half. From there, an 8-2 run put the Huskies ahead by six and was part of a larger 22-11 run to go into the locker room with a 41-30 lead.
After the intermission, UIW used a six-point burst to pull within four, 45-41, but Darius Lee scored the next seven points of the game as part of a nine-point Huskies run to put HBU ahead 54-41. The Cardinals got back to within seven on a pair of occasions but never got closer with the Huskies extending their lead as the half went on. Over the final three minutes of game time, HBU out-scored the Cardinals 10-2.
HBU controlled the boards over the final 8:24 of the game, holding a 13-3 advantage over the Cardinals. Overall, HBU held a 39-31 advantage for the team’s largest rebounding margin this season. The Huskies finished the night shooting 46.4 percent (26-of-56) from the floor and connected on 81 percent (17-of-21) from the foul line. HBU also won the turnover battle, forcing 15 miscues while committing 14.
Lee led all players in scoring and rebounding, finishing with 19 points on 7-of-11 shooting and falling one rebound shy of a double-double with nine boards. The junior also blocked a pair of shots. Pedro Castro was 6-of-12 from the floor and finished with 14 points, seven rebounds, and four assists. Long was the third Husky to score in double-figures, tallying 10 points and adding four assists. Freshman Jade Tse was the third in a trio of HBU players with four assists while scoring nine.
HBU will next take on the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders this Saturday, Jan. 30, afternoon in Corpus Christi at the American Bank Center for a 3:30 p.m. tip.