Box Score Box Score
Belton, TX – One week after suffering a heartbreaking loss to Howard Payne in the final seconds, the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor men's basketball team claimed some serious revenge with a 115-69 victory over the Yellow Jackets Thursday night in Belton. The UMHB men improve to 16-4 overall and 12-4 in American Southwest Conference play with the victory. The loss drops Howard Payne to 5-15 overall and 4-12 in the ASC on the season.
The Cru opened the game with a 12-5 run and led by as many as 29 points in the first half before settling for a 54-29 halftime lead. UMHB simply stretched it out from there in the second half. The Cru scored the first four points of the half, pushed the lead into the 30 just 2:16 into the half and led by as many as 53 points despite playing everybody who suited out for the game at least three minutes.
Marlon Miller topped six players in double figures for the Cru with 21 points and he had 17 of those in the first half.
Kitrick Bell came off the bench to add a career-high 20 points,
James Allen had 16 points off the bench,
Robert Moore chipped in with 14 points,
Dean Pele added 12 and
Sterling Phillips also reached double figures with 11 points. Twelve of the 17 players in uniform scored for the Cru in the game.
Brandon Irwin topped Howard Payne with 21 points, but all of them came in the second half, well after the game had been decided and with most of the UMHB reserves on the floor. Irwin was held to just two shots in the first half. Michael Thompson added 10 points for the Yellow Jackets.
The Cru shot a blistering 61 percent from the field in the victory and out rebounded the Yellow Jackets 42-29. UMHB also forced 20 turnovers and held HPU to 28 percent shooting in the first half.
The Cru will close out the week with a 3:00 PM home tip-off against Sul Ross State on Saturday at the Mayborn Campus Center. The UMHB men will hit the road for a pair of key ASC West Division games next week in Abilene. The Cru will face Hardin-Simmons in a 7:30 PM start next Thursday before taking on current ASC West Division co-leader McMurry University in a 3:00 PM start next Saturday.
