Box Score
Seguin, TX – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor men's basketball team built a big second-half lead and then held on for dear life as the Cru held off Texas Lutheran's furious rally for a 69-65 victory over the Bulldogs Thursday night in Seguin. The UMHB men improve to 11-5 overall and 9-3 in American Southwest Conference play with their fifth straight win. The Cru also maintained sole possession of first place in the ASC West Division with the victory. The loss snaps TLU's three-game winning streak and drops the Bulldogs to 5-11 overall and 3-9 in the ASC on the season.
The Cru led 32-26 at halftime after a first half that featured three ties and three lead changes. UMHB would score the first nine points of the second half to open up a 15-point lead at 41-26. The Cru lead would grow to 19 points at 54-35 with 10:28 remaining in the game. TLU closed to within 11 at 56-45 with 7:33 to go, but the Cru quickly pushed the lead back to 16 points. The Bulldogs would come roaring back to cut the lead to one point at 66-65 with 17 seconds to play. Dean Pele hit a free-throw to give UMHB a 67-65 edge with 11 seconds left. TLU's Brad Howard missed a three-pointer at the other end and UMHB's
Zane Johnston grabbed a clutch rebound. Johnston then buried two free-throws to give the Cru a 69-65 lead with 2.7 seconds on the clock. TLU would turn the ball over on the inbounds pass as UMHB held on for the victory.
Pele led all scorers with 27 points on 7-11 shooting on the night. He also grabbed five rebounds for UMHB. Theo Ard added nine points and a game-high seven rebounds for the Cru as ten different players scored in a balanced attack. Michael Flores led TLU with 19 points and he hit 3-6 from three-point range. Henry Flores added 15 points and Howard had 12 points and a team-high seven rebounds for the Bulldogs.
UMHB shot 48 per cent from the field in the victory and held TLU to just 37 per cent shooting. The Cru went 5-9 from three-point range in the second half and held the Bulldogs to 6-18 from beyond the arc. TLU out rebounded UMHB 39-34 and the Bulldogs forced 21 Cru turnovers in the game.
The Cru will now return home to host Schreiner University for a 3:00 PM tip-off on Saturday. UMHB will then hit the road for a pair of crucial ASC West Division games next week in Abilene.
