Preadom helps Houston Baptist top Chicago State 80-77 in Great West 1st round

Preadom, Houston Baptist top Chicago State 80-77

OREM, Utah — Wendell Preadom scored 22 points and hit the go-ahead basket to lead Houston Baptist to an 80-77 victory over Chicago State in the first round of the Great West Conference tournament Wednesday.

Andrew Gonzalez scored 18 points, Fred Hinnenkamp 16 and Mario Flaherty 12 for the second-seeded Huskies (11-20), who will play sixth-seeded NJIT in the semifinals Friday night.

Antonio Lofton had 22 points and a game-high 14 rebounds for the seventh-seeded Cougars (9-23). Carl Montgomery scored 18 and Christian Wall and Victor Scott 12 apiece.

Preadom’s 3-pointer broke a 55-55 tie with 6:10 to play and gave Houston Baptist a permanent lead.

The edge climbed to 70-61 with 1:59 left, but Scott hit a basket with 16 seconds to go and a 3-pointer 9 seconds later to pull Chicago State within 78-77. But Hinnenkamp converted a layup for the final margin.