Huskies Fall Behind Early in Loss at SMU

Preadom leads HBU with 14 pionts

Senior Wendell Preadom led HBU with 14 points (Photo by Joe Murphy)

DALLAS, Texas – An early deficit was too much for the HBU Huskies to overcome as they dropped an 82-68 decision to SMU at Moody Coliseum on Saturday afternoon.

Senior Wendell Preadom led HBU with 14 points on 5-8 shooting.  He was 2-3 from three-point range and a perfect 2-2 at the foul line while also tying a career-high with three steals.  Michael Moss added 13 points and four steals for the Huskies.  Moss was 3-5 from three-point range and 4-7 for the game.

Freshman Jamal Robertson finished the game with eight points and six rebounds, both of which tie career-bests.  Mario Flaherty scored just two points but led the team with six rebounds.

HBU held its only lead of the game after Fred Hinnenkamp made a layup to make it a 2-0 ballgame before SMU scored the next 11 points.  The Huskies trailed 18-4 but went on an 11-1 run that included a pair of threes from Moss and one from Robertson to cut the SMU lead to four with 7:25 left in the half.  The Mustangs pushed the lead back up to 12 but Robertson hit a layup and a three in consecutive trips down the court to pull HBU within seven.  SMU closed out the half with six points for a 38-25 halftime lead.

The Huskies got to within 10 less than four minutes in to the second half but could not get closer the rest of the way.  SMU led by as many as 19 with 4:08 on the clock but the Huskies were able to cut it back down to 10 before SMU hit all of its free throws in the final minute.

HBU had its best road shooting game of the season, connecting on 41.7 percent (25-60) from the floor and 42.9 percent (9-21) from three.  The Mustangs were 27-48 (56.3 percent) for the game and 8-20 (40 percent) from beyond the arc.  SMU reached the foul line 29 times compared to 11 for the Huskies.  SMU out-rebounded the Huskies 37-24 while turnovers were 13-16 in HBU’s favor.

The loss drops the Huskies to 3-14 while SMU moves to 8-10.

Next up for HBU is a rematch with UT-Arlington on Monday, January 25 at 7:00 pm at Texas Hall on the campus of UTA in Arlington.