Box Score
Abilene, TX – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor men's basketball team broke open a tight game by simply dominating the second half and the Cru rolled to a 100-70 victory over Hardin-Simmons University Saturday afternoon in Abilene. The UMHB men have now won eight straight games and improve to 14-5 overall and 12-3 in American Southwest Conference play with the victory. The loss drops the Cowboys to 4-14 overall and 4-10 in ASC play on the year.
The Cru trailed by nine points early in the first half before battling back to take a 45-42 lead at halftime. That would also be the last time the game was close. UMHB opened the second half with a 12-0 run to open up a 15-point lead at 57-42 and the Cru took complete control of the game from there. Hardin-Simmons would close to within 10 points a couple of minutes later, but UMHB would stretch the lead to as many as 33 points and cruised to the victory.
Zane Johnston and Dean Pele scored a team-high 18 points apiece to lead UMHB and Johnston also grabbed a team-best seven rebounds. Ervin Johnson added 14 points off the bench and Rich Moore and Sterling Phillips chipped in with 11 apiece for the Cru. Twelve different players scored for UMHB and 17 players played in the victory for the Cru. John Derr had 18 points for the Cowboys and he hit six three-pointers in the game. Carlos Singer added 15 points off the bench and Derek Bryant also reached double figures with 10 points.
UMHB shot 57 per cent from the field and hit 63 per cent in the second half. The Cru also out rebounded HSU 42-31 and held the Cowboys to 38 per cent shooting from the field. UMHB hit 5-16 from three-point range while HSU was 14-36 from beyond the arc.
The Cru will now return home for a pair of rematches of this week's games. The UMHB men will host McMurry University for a 7:30 PM tip-off on Thursday before closing out the week with a 3:00 PM start against Hardin-Simmons at the Mayborn Campus Center on Saturday.
