Box Score Box Score
Belton, TX – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor men's basketball team controlled the first 35 minutes of the game and then held off a furious Texas Lutheran rally in the final five minutes as the Cru posted a 71-64 victory over the Bulldogs in the regular season finale for both teams Saturday afternoon in Belton. The UMHB men improve to 19-6 overall and 15-6 in American Southwest Conference play with the victory. The Cru also clinches the #2 seed from the West Division in next week's ASC Championship Tournament. The loss ends Texas Lutheran's season at 11-13 overall and 10-11 in the ASC.
The Cru opened the game with a 6-1 run and took a double-digit lead at 19-9 with 11:17 left in the first half. Texas Lutheran would not get closer than seven points in the first half and UMHB would lead 36-25 at the break. The lead would sway between 14 and eight points through much of the second half before the Bulldogs started to battle back. TLU used a 5-0 run to cut the UMHB lead to 59-55 with 4:56 left to play, but the Cru used a
Kitrick Bell free throw, a
Sully Haywood lay-up and a pair of
Greg Wiernas free throws to push the lead back to 64-55. Brad Howard and Matthew Agonis would sandwich three-pointers around a pair of
Marlon Miller free throws to pull TLU back to within five at 66-61. Miller would add two more free throws to stretch it to 68-61 and the Bulldogs would not get closer than six points the rest of the way.
Robert Moore led UMHB with 18 points 11 rebounds and he went 12-14 from the free throw line.
Sterling Phillips added a double-double of his own with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Miller finished with 16 points and
Cory Meals added 10 points off the bench for UMHB.
Agonis led TLU with 15 points as he hit 5-7 from three-point range. Howard added 12 points for the Bulldogs and Isaac Williams chipped in with 10 before fouling out in the final minute of the game.
The Cru shot just 29 percent from the field in the second half and finished at 39 percent for the game. UMHB was just 2-10 from three-point range, but held a 47-29 rebounding edge. TLU shot 34 percent from the field and went 8-21 from beyond the arc. UMHB also turned the ball over 19 times.
With the #2 seed from the West locked up, the Cru will return to action with a 5:00 PM First Round game in the ASC Championship Tournament next Friday in Richardson. UMHB will face East Division #3 seed U.T.-Tyler in the opening round of the tournament hosted by U.T.-Dallas. The winner of the ASC Tournament will claim the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III National Championships. UMHB is the defending ASC Champion and has won two of the last three league titles.
