MACOMB, Ill. (Interstat) — Bubz Alvarez scored 16 points and grabbed eight rebounds, and Houston Christian held off Western Illinois 74-67 on Saturday at Western Hall in a men’s NCAA Division I game. Houston Christian improved to 2-0. Western Illinois fell to 0-2. Alvarez, a guard from Houston, played 32 minutes and added two assists and one block for the Huskies. The Leathernecks got 15 points from Danny Stephens and 12 points and two rebounds from Daivion Traylor but could not complete a second-half comeback. Attendance was 525.

Houston Christian entered after a 108-45 season-opening win against Louisiana Christian on Tuesday, Nov. 3. Alvarez had seven points, three rebounds and four assists in that game. Western Illinois opened with an 80-58 loss at Valparaiso on Monday, Nov. 2. Against the Leathernecks, Houston Christian led 37-31 at halftime after a first half with multiple ties and lead changes. Houston Christian shot 32 of 58 from the floor, made 2 of 12 3-point attempts and hit 8 of 9 free throws. Western Illinois shot 26 of 53 overall, made 1 of 11 3-point attempts and hit 14 of 24 free throws.

Western Illinois opened with an alley-oop from Daivion Traylor and a 3-pointer from Jack Riley for a 5-0 lead. Houston Christian answered with a dunk by Mambourou Mara and a layup by Max Alexander. Traylor’s second alley-oop and two free throws helped Western Illinois maintain an early edge, and Makai Kvamme’s jumper made it 13-8. D’Aundre Samuels made a layup for Houston Christian, and Alvarez’s layup cut the deficit to 9-8. Traylor answered inside, and Kvamme’s jumper pushed the Leathernecks to a 13-8 advantage. Shawn Simmons’s layup made it 13-10, and after Jack Riley made one free throw, Esyah Pippa-White’s layup brought Houston Christian within 14-12. Houston Christian took its first lead at 14-14 on Simmons’s dunk with 12:36 left in the first half.

The Huskies moved ahead 18-14 on Jonas Nichols’s layup, but Western Illinois tied the game at 22 on Davee Flowers’s floating jumper and went ahead 24-22 on Kvamme’s driving layup. Houston Christian answered with a Max Alexander floating jumper and a Chris Mubiru layup. Alvarez’s driving layup made it 28-24, and after a Flowers jumper, Kris Keinys scored inside and made two free throws. Aiden Miller hit a 3-pointer with 2:58 remaining, and Max Alexander’s pullup jumper with 2:19 left gave Houston Christian a 37-29 lead. Hunter Vaughn’s jumper with 47.1 seconds remaining cut Western Illinois’s halftime deficit to 37-31.

Western Illinois tied the game at 37 on Traylor’s third alley-oop with 17:54 remaining in the second half. Houston Christian responded with Mubiru’s layup, and Alvarez made consecutive layups to push the Huskies back in front. The decisive stretch came when Houston Christian turned a 49-49 tie into a seven-point lead. Nichols made a layup, Alvarez dunked, Nichols made another layup and then hit a 3-point jumper with 11:34 left to make it 56-49. Western Illinois pulled within 56-51 on Stephens’s layup, but Simmons answered with a layup and Nichols added another layup for a 60-51 Houston Christian lead. Stephens made two free throws and a layup around a Kvamme jumper to cut the margin to 60-57. Max Alexander’s pullup jumper restored a five-point cushion, and Nichols later made two free throws and a turnaround jumper to help Houston Christian stay ahead.

Western Illinois made one more push. Riley made one free throw to make it 62-58, and after Nichols’s free throws, Stephens’s layup cut the deficit to 66-60. Esyah Pippa-White answered with a pullup jumper, and Flowers made two free throws for Western Illinois. Kris Keinys’s dunk made it 70-62 with 4:08 remaining. Kvamme made one free throw and later a layup with 46.6 seconds left to bring Western Illinois within 70-65. Max Alexander made two free throws, Alvarez made two more with 24.8 seconds remaining, and Abdoulaye Konate’s tip-in with 10.9 seconds left set the final score. Alvarez finished with 16 points, eight rebounds, two assists and one block. Nichols had 15 points and two rebounds in 16 minutes. Simmons added 10 points and two rebounds. Max Alexander scored 12 points in 20 minutes. Mubiru had four points, five rebounds and two assists. Traylor had 12 points, two rebounds and one block for Western Illinois. Stephens scored 15 points in 26 minutes. Kvamme had 11 points, three rebounds and three assists. Riley had nine points, four rebounds, one assist and one block. Flowers had eight points, six rebounds and one assist.

Houston Christian had 13 assists, seven offensive rebounds, two blocks, 17 turnovers and 20 fouls. Western Illinois had 11 assists, five offensive rebounds, three blocks, 14 turnovers and 15 fouls. Houston Christian held edges in points in the paint 52-48, points off turnovers 29-19 and fastbreak points 23-20. Houston Christian scored 74 points from 72 possessions for an offensive rating of 102.4. Western Illinois scored 67 points from 73 possessions for an offensive rating of 91.3. The Huskies’ 52 paint points came on 32-of-58 shooting overall, while the Leathernecks’ 48 paint points came on 26-of-53 shooting.

Houston Christian next plays at South Dakota on Tuesday, Nov. 10. Western Illinois is set to host Simpson on Monday, Nov. 9. The teams are scheduled to meet again Nov. 30 at Houston Christian. Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of Houston Christian 65, Western Illinois 60. Interstat’s ELO system had projected Houston Christian with a 60.1 percent probability to win. Houston Christian had been installed as a pregame favorite with a spread of -9.5. The total score of 141 went under the over/under line of 136.5.