by LEAVENWORTH, Kan. – The Haskell Indian Nations University men’s basketball team beat Ottwa University 87-72 at the Hampton Inn Classic on Saturday evening at the Ryan Sports Center at St. Mary’s University.
Haskell got two 22 point peformances from George Hill and Zack Bruns.
First Half
Haskell opened the contest by scoring the first 12 points. Bruns and Hill led that effort before Ottawa would finally get on the board. The Indians increased their lead to 21-10 with 12:28 left in the half.
Ottawa chipped away at the Haskell lead and were able to cut the defecit 29-25 at the 5:33 mark.
Haskell responded by scoring the next five points, taking a 34-25 lead over the Braves. HINU though would score a basket at the 1:43 mark, taking a 36-27 lead. OU though connected on a three, cutting the deficit to 36-30. Haskell would hit another three, taking a 39-30 lead with 31 seconds left in the half. OU was down 39-32 at the half.
Second Half
The Braves opened the second half on a 7-2 run, cutting the HINU lead to 41-37. The Braves would tie the game on a free throw and then take the lead, 46-44, on a basket at the 13:12 on the clock.
Haskell though would score eight straight points, taking a 52-46 lead over the Braves. OU would again cut into the deficit and the Braves found themselves down 52-50 with 10:27 on the clock.
HINU responded by going on another run, outscoring the Braves 12-2 and taking a 62-54 lead with 8:39 left in regulation. The Braves were not able to stage a comeback in the final eight minutes of play, falling to HINU 87-72.
Inside the Box Score
Besides Hill and Bruns reaching the double digit scoring, senior T’salidi Sequoyah had 13 points and 10 rebounds. Keith Moore had 9 points for the Indians, Aquino Brinson and Joe Moudy each had 8 points.
Next up for Haskell is a pair of road games in Oklahoma City against MACU and OCU on November 18th and 19th.
