The Lions basketball team played the Houston Baptist Huskies on Saturday night, defeating them in a comeback with the score 89-84.

The Lions started the game with a roaring lead, opening with a 9-0 point lead on the Huskies and forcing them to immediately take their first time out. Soon after, the Huskies managed to come back and the two teams bounced back and forth across the court as the scores climbed.

The Lions were trailing 46-38 at halftime but managed to bring it back in the second half to get the victory. Head Coach David Kiefer said the halftime focus was on the defensive strategy.

“We talked about getting stops and rebounds. If we want to be a championship team, we have to play more defensively. It all comes down to us getting stops and getting the ball back,” he said.

The Lions did suffer one injury, however. Junior guard Joe Kasperzyk rolled his ankle during the second half and was unable to play for the rest of the game. Kiefer said Kasperzyk is expected to make a full recovery by the next game.

Looking forward, the Lions will be practicing their defensive end. 

“We didn’t do well handling the pressure of the game, we need to work more defensively if we want to improve. We didn’t play our best game, but winning any game in the Conference is a good feeling. Winning divisional is important to us, it’s something we’re working hard to do,” Kiefer said.

Junior guard/forward Gus Okafor’s two last-minute free-throw shots made it impossible for the Huskies to come back in time.

Up next for Lions basketball is an away game at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Thursday, Feb. 17 at 7:30 p.m. It will stream on ESPN+.