ABILENE, Texas – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor men's basketball team erased a double-digit first-half lead and then used clutch free-throw shooting in the final minutes to post an 83-80 victory over Hardin-Simmons Friday night in Abilene. The Cru is now 1-0 on the season while the loss drops the Cowboys to 1-2 on the year. The victory is also the first UMHB win for Cru head coach Clif Carroll.
 
Hardin-Simmons would lead by six points three different times in the final half, the last time at 56-50 with 13:51 left to play. UMHB used a 13-1 lead to grab a 63-57 lead with 9:29 to go. The Cowboys answered and took a 75-72 lead with 3:21 remaining, but UMHB took the lead back with a 6-0 run. Josiah Johnson hit a pair of free-throws with 1:09 on the clock to make it 80-77 Cru and UMHB came up with two big stops on the defensive end. Kyle Wright added two more free-throws with 11 seconds to go to put UMHB up 82-77. HSU cut it to 82-80 with 2.9 seconds left on Kyle Brennon's three-pointer, but Wright broke free on the inbounds pass to force a foul and hit one of two free-throws to make it 83-80. The Cowboys last gasp three was off the mark as the Cru held on for the victory. Johnson scored 12 of UMHB's first 13 points in the second half.
 
UMHB jumped out to a 6-2 lead before Hardin-Simmons stormed back to build a 21-10 lead with 10:50 left in the opening half. The Cowboys still had a ten-point lead with 6:47 left before The Cru responded with an 11-0 run and Wright's jumper gave UMHB a 33-32 lead with 2:50 remaining in the opening 20 minutes. The two teams traded buckets down the stretch and went to the break tied at 37.
 
Johnson poured in 30 points to lead all scorers as he hit 8-16 from the field and 11-12 from the stripe. Johnson also grabbed seven rebounds. Wright had 19 points and seven boards, Kobe Richardson scored 15 points off the bench on 5-6 shooting from beyond the arc and Aedan Welch had a double-double with 10 points and a game-high 11 rebounds. The Cru shot 44 percent from the field as a team and went 21-24 from the free-throw line. UMHB also out rebounded HSU 45-36 in a game that featured five ties and 13 lead changes.

Chase Cobb hit six three-pointers and led the Cowboys with 20 points. Brennon added 13 points, Aidan Walsh had 11 points and seven assists and Steven Quinn also reached double figures with 10 points. Hardin-Simmons shot 43 percent from the field as a team but only hit 6-13 from the free-throw line on the night.
 
The Cru will wrap up its road swing through Abilene with a 3 pm tip-off at McMurry University on Saturday. UMHB will then have more than a week off before playing five games in a seven day span starting on December 8^th.