Box Score
Belton, TX – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor men's basketball team stormed back from a double-digit second half deficit only to see the comeback fall just short in the final seconds in a 75-73 loss to Howard Payne Thursday night in Belton. The loss snaps the Cru's 11-game winning streak and drops the UMHB men to 20-4 overall and 16-2 in American Southwest Conference play. Howard Payne improves to 8-16 overall and 6-12 in the ASC with the victory.
The Cru trailed 59-45 with 11:56 left to play before starting to chip away. Back-to-back steals led to four straight points from
Antonie Chaney and a
Layton Zinsmeister three-pointer cut the gap to seven points. UMHB tied the game at 67 on a pair of
Kitrick Bell free throws with 3:18 remaining. Brandon Gould and Chaney traded buckets before the Yellow Jackets opened up a four-point edge at 75-71 with 1:38 to go.
Brian Todd hit one free throw and Bell added another with five seconds left to cut it to 75-73. Bell missed the second free throw and Ja'Kalan Gayden pulled down the rebound and was fouled with 3.2 seconds left. Gayden missed the front end of the one-and-one and Bell snared the rebound to give UMHB one last chance with 2.2 on the clock. But
Thomas Orr's three-pointer from just inside the half court stripe was just left as the buzzer sounded. Howard Payne led 37-34 at halftime after five ties and six lead changes in the half.
Bell led the Cru with 14 points and 14 rebounds to earn Scholtzsky's Lotz Better PLayer of the Game honors and Chaney added 13 points off the bench. Orr chipped in 12 and Zinsmeister scored a season-high 10 for UMHB. The Cru shot just 39 percent from the field and went 5-25 from three-point range. UMHB was also just 14-26 from the free throw line.
Gould had a huge night for HPU, pouring in 31 points on 5-9 shooting from beyond the arc. Christian Davis added 17 points for Howard Payne. The Yellow Jackets out rebounded the Cru 45-39 and shot 45 percent from the field. HPU hit 9-24 from long range and went 14-19 from the stripe in the victory.
The UMHB men will now close out the regular season with a 3:00 PM home game against Sul Ross State on Saturday. The Cru has already clinched the ASC West Division title and will be a #1 seed in next week's ASC Championship Tournament.
