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Belton, TX – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor men's basketball team built a big second-half lead, held off a late U.T.-Dallas rally and then iced the game from the free-throw line as the Cru posted a 79-66 victory over the Comets Saturday afternoon in Belton. The UMHB men improve to 10-2 overall and 6-2 in American Southwest Conference play with the victory. The loss drops the Comets to 9-4 overall and 6-3 in the ASC on the season.
The first half was a back-and-forth affair that featured seven ties and seven lead changes. UMHB scored six of the final eight points of the half to take a 41-36 lead at the break. The Cru opened the second half with a 6-0 run to stretch the lead to 11 at 47-36. UMHB would finally push the lead to 24 points at 67-43 with 8:41 left to play before the Comets started to chip away. A Brandon Greene three-pointer would pull UTD within seven at 72-65 with 1:03 on the clock, but
Dean Pele hit two free-throws,
Kevin Neal added a pair of free-throws and
James Allen hit 3-4 from the line in the final minute as the Cru put the game out of reach.
Cory Meals led UMHB with 12 points on 5-7 shooting. Allen added 11 points and went 9-12 from the free-throw line and
Greg Wiernas finished with 10 points and a team-best seven rebounds for the Cru. UMHB shot 53 percent from the field and hit 5-12 from beyond the arc.
Curtis Davis topped UTD with 18 points and Greene added 14 points and a team-high eight rebounds. Kyle Schleigh also reached double figures with 13 points, but UTD leading scorer Chris Barnes was held to just four points, 15.7 below his average. The Comets shot 37 percent from the field and went 6-22 from beyond the arc. UTD was also out rebounded 34-30 by the Cru.
UMHB will return to action with three ASC games next week. The Cru will open the week with a 7:30 PM tip-off at Concordia Texas Monday in Austin. UMHB will then return home to host Schreiner University for a 7:30 PM start on Thursday before closing out the week with a 3:00 PM start at Texas Lutheran Saturday in Seguin.
