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BELTON, Texas – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor men's basketball team exploded for 63 second half points as the Cru pulled away for a 107-95 victory over Whitman College Friday night in Belton. UMHB improves to 8-1 on the season with the win while the loss drops the Blues to 5-3 on the year.
 
The Cru raced out to a 15-5 lead to open the game before Whitman shot its way back into the contest. UMHB led 44-40 at halftime. The Blues pulled to within two after scoring the opening bucket of the second half before the Cru answered. UMHB would build a 75-63 lead with 9:50 left to play and Whitman never got closer than six points the rest of the way. The Cru would lead by as many as 15 points down the stretch on the way to a seventh consecutive victory. UMHB also played short-handed with only 11 players in uniform on the night.
 
Logan Hicks poured in a career-high 30 points to lead the Cru offense as he hit 6-8 from three-point range. Casey Armour added 22 points and a team-best 11 rebounds and Sam Moore had 22 points and a career-high 12 assists. Kendal Little also reached double figures with a season-best 11 points. The Cru shot 66 percent from the field in the second half and hit 55 percent for the game. UMHB was 8-22 from beyond the arc and hit 23-34 from the free-throw line. The Cru forced 23 turnovers and out rebounded Whitman 42-37 on the evening.
 
Andrew Vickers scored a game-high 31 points and added eight rebounds to top the Blues. Darne Duckett scored 16 points and Nikola Trifunovic chipped in 11 off the bench. Whitman shot 50 percent in the second half and 48 percent for the game but was just 9-31 from long-range in the contest.
 
The Cru will close out the tournament with a 5 pm tip-off against #9 Wisconsin-Platteville on Saturday. That will be the final game of the calendar year for the UMHB men before conference play resumes with a 7:30 pm home game against University of the Ozarks on January 2^nd.