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Belton, TX – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor men's basketball team begins its quest for a return trip to the NCAA postseason and a third conference championship when the Cru advances to the American Southwest Conference Championship Tournament this weekend in Richardson. The UMHB men are the #1 seed from the ASC West Division and have now qualified for 14 of the 15 ASC Tournaments.
The UMHB men will enter the tournament with a 21-4 overall record and the Cru men went 17-2 in ASC play to win the ASC West Division title. UMHB will open the tournament with a 12:00 PM first-round game against ASC East Division #4 seed LeTourneau University (11-14). The winner of that game will move into a 2:00 semifinal game on Saturday against the winner of the U.T-Tyler (18-7, East Division #2 seed) vs. Hardin-Simmons University (15-10, West Division #3 seed) first-round game. The other side of the bracket will see tournament host U.T.-Dallas (19-6, East Division #1 seed) taking on Schreiner University (11-14, West Division #4 seed) at 7:30 on Friday and Concordia Texas (20-5, West Division #2 seed) facing East Division #3 seed Mississippi College (15-10) at 5:00 PM. The second semifinal game will be played at 4:30 PM on Saturday with the two semifinal winners meeting in the ASC Championship game at 2:00 PM on Sunday. The ASC Tournament champion will receive the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III National Championships.
UMHB topped LeTourneau University 64-58 in the regular season meeting between the two teams in Belton on December 1
st. The Cru trailed by as many as six points in the first half before battling back to take a one-point lead at halftime. The lead would grow to as many as 11 points in the second half as UMHB led the rest of the way.
James Allen led three players in double figures for the Cru with 16 points.
Kitrick Bell pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds. UMHB shot 40 percent from the field and out rebounded the Yellowjackets 37-32 in the victory.
The Cru men are 10-0 against the rest of the ASC Tournament field this season. UMHB's only conference losses came to East Texas Baptist University and Howard Payne University.
Thomas Orr leads four players in double figures in scoring for the Cru on the season at 13.3 points per game. Bell is the leading rebounder in the ASC and averages 12.9 points and 10.6 rebounds per game. Allen leads UMHB with 94 assists and
Brian Todd has a team-best 38 steals. The Cru is shooting45 percent as a team and out rebounds opponents by an average of 6.4 boards per game. UMHB ranks second in the ASC in both scoring offense and scoring defense on the season and won 20 of its final 22 regular season games after starting the year 1-2.
The UMHB men won the ASC Championship in 2010 and 2008 and the Cru has advanced to the NCAA Division III National Championships in five of the last six seasons. UMHB has advanced to at least the semifinals of the ASC Championship Tournament in seven straight tournament appearances. West Division programs have won four of the last five ASC Championships.
All of the ASC Tournament games will be played at the UTD Activity Center in Richardson, Texas. Tickets are $6 for adults and $4 for students each day. There are no tournament passes and there are no complimentary tickets for ASC Championship events. U.T.-Dallas will provide free live streaming video and live statistics of all of the ASC Tournament games through the Comets athletic department web site at
http://cometsports.utdallas.edu/. The direct link to the live video streaming is:
http://cometsports.utdallas.edu/showcase. You can access live statistics directly at the following link:
http://www.sidearmstats.com/utd/mbball/scoreboard.aspx. The ASC will also offer full Men's Basketball Tournament coverage through a Tournament Central Page on the conference's web site at
www.ascsports.org.
U.T.-Dallas athletic officials have also posted the following notice in reference to tournament parking should you make the trip to Richardson: All fans attending the tournament on the UT Dallas campus should take care to park in GREEN PERMIT PARKING AREAS ONLY in the lots near the Activity Center, without obtaining any kind of Visitor Parking Permit. UTD's Parking Enforcement Department will not be issuing parking citations to visitors Friday through Sunday in the spaces designated as GREEN PERMIT PARKING. However, vehicles parked in any other color zone (Gold, Orange, Purple) may be subject to parking citations. Although the tournament takes place on a weekend, permitted parking areas may still be in limited supply. Additional parking is available in the lots just west of the Conference Center, which is located northwest of the Activity Center. The UTD Athletic Department is not able to assist with citations issued by drivers who do not observe these parking guidelines.
