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Belton, TX – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor men's basketball team broke open a close game with a dominant second-half run and the Cru rolled to a 78-63 victory over Mississippi College in the semifinals of the American Southwest Conference Championship Tournament Saturday afternoon in Belton. The UMHB men improve to 21-6 on the season with the victory and the Cru advances to the ASC title game for the second time in three years. Mississippi College falls to 19-7 on the season with the loss.
The two teams traded the lead throughout the first half before UMHB used a tip-in at the buzzer to take a 37-33 halftime lead. The Cru quickly pushed the lead to 10 points before the Choctaws battled back to cut the lead to five at 57-52 with 10:28 remaining. UMHB responded with a 19-3 run to open up a 76-55 lead with 3:10 left to play and Mississippi College would not get closer than the final margin of 15 points the rest of the way.
Sterling Phillips led UMHB with 19 points and he had 13 of those in the first half. Dean Pele came off the bench to add 15 points and Rich Moore chipped in with 12 points for the Cru. Theo Ard grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds and also scored eight points for UMHB and the Cru had ten different players score in the victory. Andre Thomas came off the bench to lead the Choctaws with 20 points and he also grabbed five rebounds. Luther Suggs and Donnie Haywood added 10 points apiece for MC in the game.
UMHB shot 44 per cent from the field and went 5-17 from three-point range. The Choctaws shot 41 per cent from the field, but went just 2-15 from beyond the arc. The Cru also out rebounded MC 42-33 and grabbed 18 offensive rebounds in the victory.
The Cru will now advance to face defending ASC champion U.T.-Dallas in tomorrow's championship game at 2:00 PM. U.T.-Dallas beat UMHB 83-79 in the regular season meeting between these two teams back in November. Mississippi College has advanced to the ASC Championship game 10 times in 12 tournament appearances. The only two times the Choctaws failed to advance to the title game have happened in Belton.
