Belton, Texas – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor men's basketball team finally pulled away into the late going as the Cru posted a 98-87 victory over Trinity University in the season opener for both teams Saturday night in Belton. UMHB is now 1-0 to start the year while the Tigers open at 0-1.

Trinity scored the game's first five points before UMHB fought back to take its first lead at 9-7. The Cru would go on to lead by as many as 13 points in the first half before settling for a 50-41 lead at halftime. UMHB kept the Tigers at bay for much of the early going of the second half, but Trinity closed to with three points at 74-71 with 9:49 left to play. UMHB took it back to a seven point lead before the Tigers fought back to within 78-75 with 7:37 remaining. The two teams traded baskets for a while before the Cru used a 14-2 run to grab a 15-point lead with 2:53 to go. The Tigers would not get closer than the final margin the rest of the way.

Daniel Mills led a balanced UMHB attack with 21 points and he added seven rebounds. Avery Polchinski scored a career-high 17 and hit 5-8 from three-point range for the Cru. Sindey Deloach had 16 points and eight boards, Justin Gammill had 11 points and Russell Green and Jalen Jury added 10 points apiece for UMHB. The Cru shot 48 per cent as a team in the first half and finished at 44 per cent. UMHB went 13-30 from three-point range and forced 26 Trinity turnovers.

A.J. Pulliam led Trinity with 18 points. Brian Blum had 12 and Danny Rivara and Matt Jones both had 10 points. Jones also had a game-high 11 assists to give him a double-double and he pulled down a team-high seven rebounds. The Tigers hit 11-17 from three-point range and shot 59 per cent overall as a team. Trinity also out rebounded UMHB 38-32 in the contest.

The UMHB men won't return to action until next Saturday. The Cru will travel to Dallas that day to take on NCAA Division I Dallas Baptist University in a 7:00 PM exhibition game. That game will not count in either team's win-loss record.