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Belton, Texas – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor men's basketball team will make conference history when the Cru advances to the American Southwest Conference Championship Tournament this weekend in Alpine. The UMHB men are the #4 seed from the West Division in the tournament and the Cru becomes the first ASC men's basketball program to appear in 16 conference tournaments. This is just the 18
th men's basketball tournament in ASC history.
The UMHB men will enter the tournament with a 10-15 overall record and the Cru men went 5-9 in ASC play this year. The Cru will open the tournament with a 2:30 PM first-round game against East Division #1 seed and defending conference champion East Texas Baptist University (20-5). The winner of that game will move into a 5:00 PM semifinal game on Friday against the winner of the Concordia Texas (15-10, West Division #2 seed) vs. Louisiana College (12-12, East Division #3 seed) first-round game. The other side of the bracket will see Hardin-Simmons University (15-10, West Division #3 seed) taking on U.T.-Dallas (17-8, East Division #@ seed) at 5:00 PM on Thursday and Sul Ross State (15-9, West Division #1 seed) facing East Division #4 seed LeTourneau University (12-13) at 7:30 PM. The other semifinal game will be played at 7:30 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 fell to East Texas Baptist 73-70 in Marshall in the only regular season meeting between the two teams back on January 14
th. The Cru trailed by as many as 22 points in that game before storming back to cut it to one in the final seconds. UMHB had a chance at a game-winning shot but turned the ball over on its final possession.
Daniel Mills led the Cru with 17 points and
Russell Green added 13 more. UMHB shot 41 percent as a team. Tyler Day topped the Tigers with 16 points and three others were also in double figures. ETBU hit eight of its first ten three-pointers and shot 54 percent from beyond the arc as a team.
The Cru men closed out the regular season with three straight wins to clinch a tournament berth and UMHB is 2-7 against the rest of the ASC Tournament field this year.
Demarius Cress leads the Cru in scoring at 15.2 points per game and Mills is right behind him at 14.7 points per contest. Green leads UMHB in rebounding at 6.8 boards per game while scoring 12.4 points per game.
Layton Zinsmeister has 112 assists on the year and leads the ASC in assist-to-turnover ratio on the season.
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 nine seasons. UMHB has advanced to at least the semifinals of the ASC Championship Tournament in eight of its last ten ASC tournament appearances and has two conference runner-up finishes to go with its two league titles. The Cru has a 14-13 all-time record in ASC Tournament games. UMHB became the first ASC program to advance to the NCAA Division III National Championship Game when the Cru faced Amherst for the national title following the 2012-13 season.
All of the ASC Tournament games will be played at the Pete P. Gallego Center on the campus of Sul Ross State University in Alpine, Texas. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for students on Thursday. Friday and Saturday tickets are $8 for adults and $5 for students. There are no complimentary tickets for ASC Championship events. Sul Ross State will provide free live streaming video and live statistics of all of the ASC Tournament games through the official tournament web site at the following link:
http://www.srlobos.com/news/2016/2/17/MBB_0217162109.aspx?path=mbball. 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.
