Photo Gallery

RICHARDSON, Texas – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor men's basketball team dominated the second half and rolled into the Semifinals of the American Southwest Conference Championship Tournament with a 90-73 victory over East Texas Baptist Thursday in Richardson. The Cru will now face Hardin-Simmons in Friday's semifinals.
 
The two teams were back-and-forth through the early going before ETBU pulled away for a double-digit lead late in the first half. UMHB pulled back to within 40-33 at halftime The Cru scored the first eight points of the second half to grab a 41-40 lead and UMHB opened the half with a 22-6 run to grab a nine-point edge with 14:23 remaining. ETBU took a 62- 61 lead with 8:29 left, but Shaqur Martin hit a three-pointer and Byrale Carter added a jumper to give the Cru a four-point lead, The Tigers fought back for one more lead, but UMHB closed the game with a 22-4 run to pull away for the victory.
 
LaKendric Hyson led the Cru with 26 points on 9-12 shooting. Demarius Cress added 21 points. Brian Long had 12 points and eight rebounds and Martin and Sam Moore each chipped in ten points for UMHB. The Cru shot 53 percent from the field in the second half and hit 50 percent for the game. UMHB was 10-27 from three-point range and out rebounded the Tigers 42-31.
 
Chris Haynes led ETBU with 19 points and Robby Dooley had 18. Westin Riddick also reached double figures with 12 points. The Tigers were just 3-16 from beyond the arc in the second half and only shot 8-29 from long-range for the day. ETBU shot 49 percent overall as a team and committed 20 turnovers in the loss.
 
The Cru improves to 21-5 on the year with the victory and will take on Hardin-Simmons at 5 pm Friday with a berth in the ASC title game on the line. The loss ends the Tigers' season at 12-14.