Entering Friday night’s home contest at Coffin Sports Complex with just one win in six games, the Haskell Indian Nations University men’s basketball team was in desperate need of a victory, but was facing an equally desperate one-win William Woods team.

With less than a minute left in a tie game, HINU coach Ted Juneau called a timeout and drew up a play to get the ball in the hands of junior forward Ben Carrywater. The go-to forward came through for his coach by hitting a layup and drawing a foul with 16.7 seconds remaining; he nailed a free throw to give HINU a 75-72 lead, which proved to be the final tally.

“Ben’s the heart and soul of this team,” Juneau said after Carrywater scored a game-high 19 points, including 12 in the second half.

The Indians (2-5) stepped up their play in the final 20 minutes after what their coach said was a disappointing first-half effort.

“The first half we played horrible, and coach really got mad at us at halftime,” Carrywater said. “But I’m glad he did because it got us going.

“He just told us that’s the worst we’ve played since the beginning of the season. He told me to start playing, told me to step it up.”

HINU responded by outscoring WWU (1-7), 46-44, in the second half, thanks in large part to the play of sophomore forward Ryan Brown, who was just getting back into playing shape following hernia surgery a few weeks back. Brown scored 11 of his 15 points in the second half, and nine of those points came at the free-throw line.

“I was just doing what I know best, especially in the second half,” Brown said.

Carrywater wasn’t surprised that Brown made a living by driving and drawing fouls for the Indians.

“He’s really more of a post player than he is a guard,” Carrywater said. “This game he really stepped it up, started playing like the Ryan I know. Ryan played real tough and free throws – he’s always good with those.”

Brown said he is recovering from his injury nicely.

“I was just working hard, trying to get back in shape, really,” he said following his second game back (Brown played sparingly at Ottawa in the Indians’ previous outing). “I’m starting to feel like my old self. Right after surgery I was just hurting, hurting. But now I’m starting to get caught up with the team and running more drills with them and starting to feel a lot more comfortable.”

Along with his nine freebies, Brown hit a critical baseline jumper to give HINU a 72-70 lead before WWU’s Lucas Dahl scored inside to tie the game at 72 with just over a minute remaining.

HINU freshman guard Ronald Cunningham also scored in double figures and had eight of his 12 points in the second half.

WWU led HINU, 59-51, with 10 minutes to go after its freshman guard Dan Anderson hit four 3-pointers in the early minutes of the second half. Anderson finished with six threes and 18 points, but he missed all four of his 3-point attempts in the last 10 minutes.

The Indians have won their last two home games and will host Manhattan Christian College at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.