HOUSTON, TEXAS – After a couple of tough losses, the University of the Incarnate Word men's basketball team got back on track with a 97-91 win at Southland Conference rival Houston Baptist University on Monday night at Sharp Gym.

The Cardinals (14-11, 9-5) shot a season best 62.5 percent from the field, but still needed to make some plays down the stretch to get the win over the Huskies (16-12, 10-5).  UIW turned a 30-29 deficit with 5:34 remaining in the first half into a 51-43 lead by halftime.  The Cardinals scored on each of their final 10 possessions of the half and were 21-of-32 from the field.

In the second half, the UIW lead ballooned to 13 points after a three-pointer by Mitchell Badillo (Houston/Cy Falls HS) with 15:35 left in the game.  The Huskies outscored the Cardinals, 16-6 over the next four and a half minutes.  HBU would eventually whittle the Cardinals lead down to 79-78 with 5:55 remaining on a fastbreak layup by Anthony Odunsi.

The Cardinals pushed the lead back to six points, but HBU answered with two free throws from Odunsi and forced a turnover that led to a Colter Lasher bucket in the paint.  UIW took back control of the game with three-pointers from Shawn Johnson (New Orleans, LA/Alief Hastings HS) and Kyle Hittle (New Braunfels/New Braunfels HS) to make it 91-83 with 1:54 left.  Incarnate Word held off the Huskies by going 6-for-6 from the foul line in the final moments.

Incarnate Word went 7-of-14 from three-point range made 20-of-21 from the free throw line.  Derail Green (Houston/Klein Forest HS) led the team with 23 points on 10-of-16 shooting from the field and he grabbed eight rebounds.  Hittle added 20 points and five assists while Badillo added 16 points, seven assists and three steals.  Jontrell Walker (Aurora, IL/West Aurora HS) pumped in 16 points off the bench and went 8-for-8 from the charity stripe.  They had seven more rebounds than the Huskies, but committed six more turnovers.

HBU shot 52.7 percent from the field, made 6-of-19 from three-point range and were 27-of-36 from the foul line.  Odunsi finished with 25 points and eight assists while going 15-of-17 from the free throw line.  Lasher added 24 points on 10-of-13 shooting from the field. 

The Cardinals are back in action on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. against Lamar University.  The game will be shown on Time Warner Cable channel 825.
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