Tournament BracketBelton, Texas – 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 Marshall. The UMHB men are the #5 seed in the tournament and have now qualified for 16 of the 17 ASC Tournaments.
The UMHB men will enter the tournament with a 17-8 overall record and the Cru men went 14-6 in ASC play this year. The Cru will open the tournament with a 5:00 PM first-round game against #4 seed Howard Payne University (14-11). The winner of that game will move into a 7:30 PM semifinal game on Friday against the winner of the University of the Ozarks (8-17, #8 seed) vs. East Texas Baptist University (20-5, #1 seed) first-round game. The other side of the bracket will see Louisiana College (14-9, #3 seed) taking on Concordia Texas (16-9, #6 seed) at 12:00 PM on Thursday and Hardin-Simmons (19-6, #2 seed) facing #7 seed U.T.-Dallas (16-9) at 2:30 PM. The other semifinal game will be played at 5:00 PM on Friday with the two semifinal winners meeting in the ASC Championship game at 4:00 PM on Saturday. The ASC Tournament champion will receive the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III National Championships.
UMHB split its regular season meetings with Howard Payne University. The Yellow Jackets took a 69-63 win over the Cru in Brownwood in December as UMHB turned the ball over 22 times and lost a double-digit first-half lead.
Jerard Graham had 23 points and 10 rebounds for the Cru and
Justin Gammill added 18 points. UMHB knocked off HPU 97-85 in the rematch in Belton in January. Graham,
Russell Green and
Daniel Mills all scored 20 or more points for the Cru and UMHB shot 52 percent as a team in that victory.
The Cru men are 8-6 against the rest of the ASC Tournament field this season. Graham is the team's leading scorer at 19.4 points per game and he also leads the Cru at 6.9 rebounds per contest. Mills adds 12.4 points per game and Green is scoring 10.6 points per game.
Layton Zinsmeister leads the league with 111 assists and Graham tops the ASC with 58 steals. The Cru is shooting 45 percent as a team and holds opponents to 41 percent.
The UMHB men won the ASC Championship in 2010 and 2008 and the Cru has advanced to the NCAA Division III National Championships in six of the last eight seasons. UMHB has advanced to at least the semifinals of the ASC Championship Tournament in eight of its last nine ASC tournament appearances. The Cru became the first ASC program to advance to the NCAA Division III National Championship Game when UMHB faced Amherst for the national title following the 2012-13 season.
All of the ASC Tournament games will be played at Ornelas Gymnasium in Marshall, Texas. Tickets are $8 for adults, $5 for general admission and $3 for students each day. There are no All-Tournament passes available and there are no complimentary tickets for ASC Championship events. East Texas Baptist will provide free live streaming video and live statistics of all of the ASC Tournament games through the official tournament web site at
http://www.goetbutigers.com/mbasketball/ASC_Tournament/#.VO31DVLQeUm. 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
