No. 10 Houston Baptist Pulls Away Late in Upset of No. 7 UIW
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KATY, Texas – Houston Baptist chose the right time to deliver one of its better defensive efforts of the season. Because of that, coach Ron Cottrell’s team moved a step forward on Tuesday night.
The tenth-seeded Huskies held the seventh-seeded Cardinals to 42 percent shooting on their way to an 80-68 win in the first round of the 2021 Hercules Tires Southland Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament at the Leonard E. Merrell Center, their second win over UIW in a six-day span. With the victory, HBU (6-18) advances to play No. 6 Lamar Wednesday at 8 p.m. CT.
Pedro Castro scored a game-high 21 points to lead a balanced Huskies offense that shot 50 percent from the field while also hitting on 44 percent of their 3-pointers and 73 percent (19 of 26) from the free throw line.
“We gave them a seven-point spot to start the game and had to fight our way back into the game,” said Cottrell. “Our guys never looked down. They continued to fight all the way through.”
Much of the fight came defensively, where the Huskies held conference scoring champion Keaston Willis to just 1-of-9 shooting from three-point range. Willis scored 19 points but finished just 7-of-19 from the field. The effort was a sharp contrast from an HBU defense that ranked last in the conference in scoring defense at 81.6 points per game.
“We’ve done a pretty good job all three games against them,” Cottrell said.
The Cardinals caught the Huskies off-balance with the initial run and were able to use the initial spurt as a cushion for much of the first half. Once HBU shook off its sluggish start, the game turned into a back-and-forth affair that saw nine lead changes before Zach Iyeymi’s basket gave the Huskies a 29-27 lead they were able to further to 32-27 on Za-Ontay Boothman’s trey with 1:34 left that helped carry them into the locker room with a 35-31 margin.
UIW’s failure to find consistency from beyond the arc hurt them in the opening 20 minutes as they connected on just one of their 11 attempts from three-point range. Meanwhile, HBU was able to go 4-of-10 from long range, with Hunter Janacek (10 first half points) hitting two of them.
Both teams opened the second half a blistering pace, with HBU hitting four of its first five shots from the field while UIW nailed six of their first nine. The tempo allowed the Huskies to maintain the lead before illis’ free throw put the Cardinals back on top at 46-45 with 13:57 remaining.
What was a bane to the Cardinals in the first half, the three-point line became a boon after intermission, as UIW hit on three of its first five long range attempts, with Josh Morgan’s trey tying the score at 54-54 with 10:11 remaining.
Darius Lee made sure the deadlock was short-lived with his layup that regained the lead for HBU. The Huskies were able to extend the margin via a Janacek layup and a Lee basket off a steal from Myles Pierre, making the score 62-54. The Cardinals fought back to inch within 65-60, but Janacek’s three-pointer with 3:58 left gave HBU a 68-60 edge that proved to be the decisive play that propelled them into Wednesday’s contest.
Janacek’s (18 points) basket came moments after he recorded his fourth foul.
“I felt like they were making a good run,” Janacek said of UIW’s momentum.
The Cardinals, who ranked among the nation’s best 3-point shooting teams, finished just 5-of-22 (22.7 percent) from long range.
“We struggled a little bit (Tuesday night),” said Cardinals coach Dr. Carson Cunningham, whose team made the tournament for the first time in school history. “It ended up being a factor.”
HBU split their two regular season games with Lamar. The Cardinals earned a 71-65 win in Beaumont on January 9, with the Huskies holding home court with an 80-75 victory on February 13.