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Houston Baptist Wins GWC Tournament Game
March 10, 2010
Houston Baptist 80, Chicago State 77 OREM, Utah - Houston Baptist defeated Chicago State, 80-77, in the second quarterfinal game of the Great West Conference Basketball Tournament Wednesday at Orem, Utah. The No. 2 seeded Huskies were led by second-team all-conference performer Wendell Preadom with 22 points. Also in double figures for HBU were GWC Newcomer of the Year and first-team selection Andrew Gonzalez with 18 points, Fred Hinnenkamp with 16 points and first-team all-GWC honoree Mario Flaherty with 12 points. Honorable mention honoree Michael Moss led the Huskies on the boards with eight rebounds and six assists. Chicago State used a 9-2 run during a six minute span late in the first half keyed by honorable mention honoree Antonio Lofton and second-team all-conference selection Christian Wall, to take a 10-point lead at 32-22 with 3:15 left in the first frame. HBU cut the lead to five as the Cougars took 34-29 lead into the locker room at the half. The Huskies tied the score on two occasions early in the second period before taking the lead, 41-40, on a steal and layup by Moss with just under 14 minutes remaining. The two teams traded leads until HBU started to pull away a little, sparked by a three-pointer by Gonzalez with 4:22 to play. After HBU increased its lead to nine with 1:59 remaining on a trey by Hinnenkamp, Chicago State started chipping away at the lead behind the play of Carl Montgomery and got to within one, 78-77, with seven seconds left on a three-pointer by Victor Scott. Hinnenkamp then hit a layup with 0:04 on the clock to put the Huskies up, 80-77. Chicago State, which was out of timeouts, could not make a play at the end. "We played very tight early on--they pressed us and we didn't handle it well," said HBU coach Ron Cottrell. "We finally relaxed and picked up our defensive intensity. Fred ignited our defense midway through the second half and came up big for us. At this point it's win or go home and we found a way. I have to credit Benjy Taylor and Chicago State. They threw us off balance and didn't let us get comfortable." The Cougars (9-23) were led by GWC honorable mention selection Lofton with a double-double of 22 points and 14 rebounds. Joining Lofton in double figures were GWC second-team honoree Carl Montgomery with 18 points, and Kabangu Kasamba and Victor Scott with 12 points apiece. "In order to win we knew we were going to have to play well for 40 minutes and we showed some spurts," said Chicago State coach Benjy Taylor. "We got beat by a better team tonight and their seniors made big plays. We made some mistakes that hopefully we'll be able to turn the tables on next year, and we'll be on the receiving end of a victory. We have got to learn on how to make plays down the stretch and play better." The Huskies shot 56 percent (27-48) for the game, while Chicago State hit 30-74 shots for 41 percent. HBU outrebounded the Cougars, 40-34. Houston Baptist (11-20) will play the winner of the North Dakota-NJIT game on Friday in the semifinals.
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