Box Score Box Score
Richardson, TX – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor men's basketball team built a double-digit second-half lead and then held off a furious U.T.-Tyler rally as the Cru posted a 73-68 victory over the Patriots in the opening round of the American Southwest Conference Championship Tournament Friday in Richardson. UMHB improves to 20-6 on the season with the victory and the Cru will now move on to a 4:30 PM semifinal tomorrow against tournament host U.T.-Dallas. The loss ends U.T.-Tyler's season with a 12-14 overall record.
The Cru fell behind 21-16 midway through the first half before using some red-hot shooting to close the half with a 29-12 run to take a 45-33 halftime lead. UMHB hit 55 percent from the field and went 3-6 from three-point range in building that advantage. The Cru would still hold a 12-point lead two minutes into the second half at 49-37 before the Patriots started to heat up. U.T.-Tyler used a Brandon Levine three-pointer and a three-point play from Michael Johnson to close to within 49-43. UMHB would push the lead back to double figures at 56-46 with 9:02 left to play, but the Patriots would rally once again. Johnson's three-pointer with 1:51 remaining on the clock cut the Cru's lead to 67-65, but UMHB used a
Robert Moore bucket and two free-throws from
James Allen to push it back to six points. Erik DeRoo hit two free-throws for the Patriots to cut it to a four point Cru lead in the final seconds, but
Marlon Miller iced the game with two free-throws with 10 seconds left.
Miller led the Cru with 24 points and he hit 7-10 from the free-throw line.
Kitrick Bell came off the bench to add 12 points and eight rebounds and Moore finished with 11 points and eight boards.
Johnson led all scorers with 25 points and he scored 17 of those in the second half. Levine added 20 points and Jonathan Joyner also reached double figures with 10 points. Johnson also grabbed a team-best six rebounds for the Patriots.
UMHB shot just 23 percent from the field in the second half and finished at 41 percent. U.T.-Tyler shot 38 percent from the field in the game and went 7-28 from three-point range. The Cru out rebounded the Patriots 39-37, forced 19 turnovers and went 22-32 from the free-throw line.
The UMHB men will now advance to the ASC Tournament Semifinals for the 10
th time in 11 trips to the tournament. The Cru beat U.T.-Dallas 79-66 during the regular season. The Comets advanced with an 85-70 opening round victory over Concordia Texas. Hardin-Simmons University and McMurry University will face off in Saturday's other semifinal game. The two semifinal winners will meet in the ASC Tournament Championship Game at 2:00 PM on Sunday. The winner of the ASC Tournament claims the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III National Championships.
