Huskies Fight Past Chicago State at GWC Tournament

OREM, Utah - HBU fought back from a 10-point first half deficit to edge Chicago State in the first round of the Great West Conference Tournament by a score of 80-77on Wednesday evening at the McKay Events Center.

Chicago State took a quick 7-2 lead and never trailed in the first half.  The Huskies managed to tie the game at 16-16 but a 16-6 run by CSU made it a 10-point game with 3:15 left on the clock.  HBU pared that lead down to five, trailing 34-29 at the half.  The Huskies turned the ball over 15 times in the first period.

The Huskies quickly closed the gap in the second half and the score went back and forth with neither team leading by more than four until there was just 5:33 left in the game and HBU took a 60-55 lead.  HBU led by nine after a Fred Hinnenkamp three-pointer with just under two minutes remaining but Chicago State slowly cut in to the lead, turning an eight-point HBU advantage with 38 seconds to go in to a one-point game with seven seconds left.  Hinnenkamp got a layup with four second left to ice the game for the Huskies.

Hinnenkamp finished with a career-high 16 points on 5-7 shooting.  The junior was 2-3 from three and 4-6 at the foul line.  Wendell Preadom scored 22 to lead the Huskies.

Andrew Gonzalez added 18 on 6-8 shooting and he was HBU’s top rebounder with seven.  Mario Flaherty was nearly perfect from the field, connecting on 6-7 and finishing with 12 points and seven rebounds.

HBU (11-20) shot 56.3 percent (27-48) from the floor and the Huskies connected on 70 percent (21-30) from the foul line.  Chicago State (9-23) shot 40.5 percent (30-74) for the game.  HBU held a 40-34 advantage on the boards.

The Huskies will face NJIT at 8:30 central on Friday evening at the McKay Events Center.