Houston Baptist beats Abilene Christian, 81-72, tie for 2nd (Mar 04, 2017)

By AP
Published

HOUSTON (AP) Atif Russell and Colter Lasher combined to score 38 points and Houston Baptist closed out its regular season with an 81-72 win over Abilene Christian Saturday night.

Houston Baptist (17-12, 12-6) finishes in a three-way tie with Stephen F. Austin and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi for second place in the Southland Conference. The Islanders own the tiebreaker and claim the No. 2 seed. The Lumberjacks are the No. 3 seed and the Huskies the No. 4; both play quarterfinal-round games Thursday in Katy, Texas.

The Wildcats (13-16, 7-11) took a 33-30 lead at intermission but Reveal Chukwujekwu gave Houston Baptist the lead for good with his three-point play with 15:36 left.

Russell hit 7 of 8 from the field and knocked down all four 3-point attempts to finish with 20 points. Lasher hit 5 3-pointers and had 18 points. Chukwujekwu added 10 points and grabbed 12 rebounds.

Jaren Lewis scored 23 points to lead Abilene Christian.