Box Score
Belton, TX – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor men's basketball team took control of the game in the first half and the Cru never looked back on the way to a 99-80 victory over Texas Lutheran University Thursday night in Belton. The UMHB men improve to 16-6 overall and 14-4 in American Southwest Conference play with the victory. The Cru also stays one game ahead of McMurry University for first place in the ASC West Division. The loss drops the Bulldogs to 6-16 overall and 4-14 in the ASC on the season.
Texas Lutheran would grab an early 8-7 lead, but the Cru answered with a 19-0 run to build a 26-8 lead with 6:48 remaining in the first half. UMHB would lead by as many as 20 points in the first half before settling for a 43-28 halftime lead. Texas Lutheran would close to within 11 points at 54-43 with 13:59 left in the game, but UMHB once again answered, pushing the lead back to 20 points at 72-52 with 8:42 left to play. The lead would grow to as many as 25 points and the Bulldogs would not get closer than 17 points the rest of the way.
Sterling Phillips led the Cru with 20 points on 6-9 shooting. Theo Ard added 13 points and a team-high eight rebounds and Dean Pele had 12 points off the bench for UMHB. Fourteen different players scored for the Cru in the game. Michael Flores topped TLU with 19 points and he hit 3-5 from three-point range. Brad Howard came off the bench to add 17 points for the Bulldogs and Henry Flores also reached double figures with 14 points, all of them in the second half.
UMHB shot 70 per cent from the field in the second half and the Cru hit 56 per cent for the game. UMHB also went 7-13 from three-point range and out rebounded TLU 38-21 in the victory. The Bulldogs shot 63 per cent from the field in the second half and finished at 50 per cent for the game.
The Cru will now hit the road to close out the regular season with three straight road games. UMHB will travel to Kerrville to face Schreiner University for a 3:00 PM tip-off on Saturday. The Cru will then take on Sul Ross State and Howard Payne University in road games next week.
