SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS – The University of the Incarnate Word men's basketball team got off to a slow start on Tuesday night, but they quickly recovered against visiting Huston-Tillotson University for a 94-63 win at the McDermott Center.

The visiting Rams (0-1) took advantage of the sluggish Cardinals (2-0) in the first minutes of the game.  They knocked down a pair of three-pointers in the first six minutes of the game and took a 12-11 lead after a dunk by Joel Clarke with 13:21 left in the first half.

The Cardinals responded with a 9-0 run and led by double figures for the rest of the first half.  UIW dominated in the paint outscoring HTU, 26-10 on points in the paint in the half.  The Cardinals also scored 10 fastbreak points.

The Cardinals continued to push the pace in the second half.  They took a 20-point lead with 12:42 remaining on a follow up dunk by Shawn Johnson (Gretna, LA/Alief Hastings HS).  The Rams scored the next six points and had a little momentum going, but the Cardinals responded by outscoring HTU, 21-9 over the next six minutes to put the game away.

"It was a team effort with all five of our starters scoring in double figures and Denzel (Livingston) had an outstanding game," said UIW head coach Ken Burmeister.  "He was right on point and took care of the ball and I'm real happy that Kyle (Hittle) came around.  There were a couple of moments where Huston-Tillotson picked it up and gained a little confidence, but our guys came back strong."

The Cardinals shot 54.0 percent from the field, made 9-of-17 from three-point range and were 17-of-23 at the foul line.  Livingston (Houston/Waltrip HS) fill the stat sheet with 28 points, eight rebounds, five assists, three steals and two blocks while knocking down 5-of-7 three-pointers.  Hittle (New Braunfels/New Braunfels HS) tallied 23 points and eight boards while making 8-of-11 from the field.  Mitchell Badillo (Houston/Cy Falls HS) had 11 points, eight assists and six boards from his point guard spot.

The Cardinals had nine more rebounds than the Rams while dishing out 19 assists and committing only 12 turnovers.  The Rams blocked six shots in the contest.

Huston-Tillotson shot 37.1 percent from the field, but drained 9-of-22 from three-point range.  They were only 2-of-5 at the charity stripe.  Quincy Durden led the team with 12 points and four assists on 4-of-7 shooting from three-point range.  Joel Clarke came off the bench to score 12 points and grab eight rebounds.

The Cardinals are back in action on Saturday when they travel to New Jersey to play Princeton University at 11 a.m. in their first game against a Division I opponent this year.  Burmeister picked up his 150^th career win on the sideline for the Cardinals and is now 276-202 in 18 years as a head coach.
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