Box Score SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS – It was not the prettiest game the University of the Incarnate Word men's basketball team has played this year, but their 89-82 overtime victory over visiting Southland Conference rival Houston Baptist on Saturday did show resilience.
The Cardinals (18-5, 6-4) shot only 41.4 percent from the field, their second-lowest percentage at the McDermott Center this year. With the shots not falling from the outside, head coach
Ken Burmeister exhorted the team to drive to the hoop and it paid off in the end as they wound up shooting 40 free throws on the night.
The Huskies (4-20, 1-11) led for large portions of the game and with guard Rob Lewis leading the way off the bench with 22 points it seemed like it was to be their night. The Cardinals had the better start, but from the 13:47 mark of the first half until the 10:30 mark of the second half the visitors outscored UIW, 53-38. HBU took their biggest lead of the game with 11:05 to play in regulation on Caleb Crayton's conventional three-point play.
At that point in the game, UIW guard
Denzel Livingston (Houston/Waltrip HS) started to take over. He scored 16 of the team's 25 points over the final 10:05 of regulation. His three-pointer with 6:41 left made it 65-61 HBU. Despite all the foul shots for UIW, they still missed some important ones down the stretch that nearly cost the game.
The Cardinals had two chances to tie the game in the final 4:30 that they were unable to take advantage. In the final 1:20 of regulation both team's committed turnovers, but UIW was able to convert on a steal by
Mitchell Badillo (Houston/Cy-Fair HS) that led to a layup by Livingston that tied the game at 74-74 with 50 seconds remaining, but he missed the free throw that could have given them the lead. In the final 30 seconds, both Lewis and Livingston missed go-ahead jumpers to send the game to overtime.
In the overtime period, the depleted Huskies finally ran out of steam as they had three starters and four players total foul out. The Cardinals took the lead on the first possession on a driving layup by
Kyle Hittle (New Braunfels/New Braunfels HS). Lewis tied it up with a tough reverse layup for the Huskies. Livingston was fouled on the next possession and made a pair of free throws. Neither team scored over the next two minutes until
Sam Burmeister (San Antonio/Churchill HS) pump faked and scored on a driving layup with 1:29 to play.
The Cardinals made a few defensive stops and knocked down 9-of-10 free throws in overtime to clinch the win.
Livingston finished with a career high 36 points and became the 14
th player in school history to reach 1,000 career points late in the second half. He went 10-of-23 from the field and made 15-of-18 from the foul line. He finished with a double-double after grabbing 11 rebounds in 39 minutes. He now has 1,010 points in his career.
The Cardinals were 29-of-70 from the field, 3-of-19 from three-point range and 28-of-40 at the foul line. Hittle scored 19 points and grabbed nine boards while Burmeister contributed 11 points and seven rebounds. Badillo added eight points, four assists and a career high nine rebounds. They out-rebounded the Huskies, 50-35 and scored 20 second chance points.
The Huskies shot 47.8 percent from the field, made 6-of-16 from beyond the arc and were 12-of-15 at the charity stripe. Lewis made seven of his first eight shots in the game and went 9-of-14 overall. Colter Lasher had 14 points and five rebounds while draining 3-of-5 from long range. Cody Joyce finished with 12 points and eight boards.
The Cardinals improved to 13-1 at home on the season and are back in action on Thursday against Abilene Christian at home at 8 p.m. on ESPN3.
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