LONGVIEW, Texas – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor men's basketball team battled back from another slow start, but the Cru comeback fell short in an 84-67 loss to LeTourneau University Thursday evening in Longview. The Yellowjackets improve to 2-0 with the victory, while UMHB drops to 2-2 on the year with the loss.
 
LeTourneau scored the first 11 points of the game and held the Cru scoreless for nearly three minutes to open the contest. The Yellowjackets built a 20-5 lead before UMHB started to chip away. The Cru would close to 29-20 on a pair of Josiah Johnson free throws just over 11 minutes into the game. UMHB had several chances to close the gap to seven points, but could not convert as LeTourneau stretched it back into double figures. The Cru would finish out the period with a nice run to cut it to 39-32 at halftime.
 
Johnson opened the second-half scoring with a steal and basket to cut it to 39-34 and Carson Hammond followed with a three-pointer to pull UMHB to within two points at 39-37. That was the closest the Cru had been since the opening seconds of the game. The Yellowjackets answered with a 9-2 run to push the lead back to nine points. UMHB clawed back to within six points with 12 minutes remaining. LeTourneau was able to take the lead back out to 15 points and the Cru never got closer than 11 points the rest of the way.
 
Johnson had a huge night for UMHB, pouring in a career-high 39 points. Kobe Ollison added 12 points and Aedan Welch grabbed a team-best nine rebounds. UMHB shot 38 percent from the field and only hit 18 percent from three-point range. The Cru turned the ball over 20 times in the game.
 
Andrew Eberhardt topped the Yellowjackets with 27 points on 11-22 shooting. Deonte Jackson had 18 points and John Argue added 17 more. Kyle Matthews grabbed 15 rebounds and Argue added 12 as LeTourneau out rebounded UMHB 49-39 in the contest. The Yellowjackets hit 40 percent from the floor as a team and shot 26 percent from beyond the arc.  
 
The Cru will close out this road trip with a 3 pm start at East Texas Baptist Saturday in Marshall. The UMHB men will then open American Southwest Conference play with road games at UT Dallas and the University of the Ozarks before hosting the 2020-21 home opener against Louisiana College on January 14^th.