Box Score
Tyler, TX – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor men's basketball team held off a late U.T.-Tyler charge and iced the game from the free-throw line as the Cru posted a 70-66 victory over the Patriots Saturday night in Tyler. The UMHB men improve to 5-2 overall and 4-2 in American Southwest Conference play with the victory. The loss drops the Patriots to 7-3 overall and 3-2 in ASC play on the year.
UMHB built an 11-point halftime lead at 33-22 as the Cru shot 39 per cent from the field and held the Patriots to 30 per cent shooting. UMHB also closed the half with an 11-1 run to open up the lead. U.T.-Tyler would open the second half with an 11-0 run to tie the game at 33. The two teams would battle back-and-forth before the Patriots took a 55-53 lead with 8:36 remaining. UMHB retook the lead with an 8-0 run to go up 61-55 with 5:36 to play. The Cru would then hold a 64-57 lead with 3:49 left to play before the Patriots cut the lead to 66-64 with 1:01 to go. Sterling Phillips answered with a jumper for the Cru and UMHB would hit a couple of clutch free-throws while holding U.T.-Tyler to just one more basket the rest of the way to clinch the victory.
Dean Pele led the Cru with 16 points and he was a clutch 7-8 from the free-throw line. Pele also grabbed eight rebounds. Roderick Gunter added 12 points and he also went 7-8 from the stripe. Sterling Phillips also reached double figures for UMHB with 10 points and Ervin Johnson grabbed a team-high nine rebounds for the Cru. Neal Welch led U.T.-Tyler with 18 points and he hit 6-12 from three-point range. Hakeem Kareem added 16 points and 11 rebounds for the Patriots.
UMHB shot just 32 per cent from the field and went 3-15 from three-point range. But the Cru also hit 27-36 from the free-throw line. U.T.-Tyler 46 per cent from three-point range and 42 per cent from the field. The Patriots also out rebounded the Cru 48-47, but U.T.-Tyler shot just 38 per cent from the free-throw line and turned the ball over 18 times in the loss.
The Cru will now have a 17-day break between games before returning to action after the Christmas holiday. UMHB will return to action with the Cru Holiday Classic at the Mayborn Campus Center on December 29th and 30th. The four-team field for that tournament includes: UMHB, Hardin-Simmons University, Wisconsin-La Crosse and Millikin University.
