Houston Baptist holds off Lamar 75-68 (Feb 25, 2017)

By AP
Published

BEAUMONT, Texas (AP) Atif Russell scored 18 points with 7-for-8 shooting and Josh Ibarra added 16 more to lead Houston Baptist to its seventh-straight victory with a 75-68 win over Lamar on Saturday to secure a berth in the Southland Conference Tournament.

Colter Lasher had 12 points for Houston Baptist (15-12, 10-6) and Braxton Bonds got 10. The Huskies shot 49 percent from the field, outrebounded Lamar 41-28 and never trailed.

Lamar (16-13, 8-8) trailed by five at the break but stayed close, getting a layup from Colton Weisbrod with 7:13 left to play to tie the game at 60-all.

Ibarra quickly put HBU back on top with a 3-pointer and Lamar cut the gap back to a single point with a pair of free throws from Weisbrod to make it 63-62. But the Huskies held them off down the stretch.

Weisbrod finished with 24 points and seven rebounds for Lamar and Nick Garth had 23 points.