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BELTON, Texas –
Byrale Carter's steal and lay-up gave the University of Mary Hardin-men's basketball team a three-point lead in the final seconds and the Cru defense made it stand up as UMHB posted a 98-95 victory over East Texas Baptist Thursday night in Belton. The Cru improves to 6-0 overall and 1-0 in American Southwest Conference play with the victory. The loss drops the Tigers to 2-2 overall and 0-1 in the ASC.
ETBU built a six-point lead at 89-83 with 7:04 remaining, but UMHB chipped away to take a 90-89 lead with 4:01 left to play. The Cru would continue to hold a one-point lead as the team's traded scores before a
LaKendric Hyson put-back made it 96-93 UMHB with 1:10 to go. The Tigers closed to 96-95 on a Gavin Sabo put-back with 51 seconds to play. UMHB turned the ball over on the ensuing possession, but Carter stripped the ball from Sabo and laid it in with 4.2 seconds remaining to make it 98-95. ETBU would have a last-second chance to tie, but Nathan Fontenot drew only air and
Brian Long snared the rebound for the Cru at the buzzer. The two teams were tied at 47 at halftime before a second half that featured seven lead changes and two ties.
Hyson led UMHB with 29 points and 12 rebounds and he also had three steals and two blocked shots. Long scored 22 points,
Demarius Cress added 17 and
Shaqur Martin scored 10 points. UMHB shot 48 percent from the field as a team and added 19 offensive rebounds while out rebounding the Tigers 38-33. The Cru only turned the ball over six times while forcing 19 turnovers in the contest.
Robby Dooley had 30 points on 11-13 shooting before fouling out with just over four minutes remaining for ETBU. Landin Brown had 19 points and 10 rebounds, Fontenot scored 16 off the bench and Jarrell Taylor chipped in with 15. The Tigers shot 63 percent from the field in the first half and hit 60 percent for the game. ETBU was also 15-26 from three-point range on the night.
UMHB will return to action with a 7:30 pm start against LeTourneau University at the Mayborn Campus Center on Saturday. The Cru will host Texas Lutheran for a 7 pm start next Wednesday.
