AUSTIN, Texas – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor men's basketball team opened conference play with an 81-77 loss to Concordia University (Texas) Saturday afternoon in Austin. The Cru fell to 2-2 overall and 0-1 in American Southwest Conference play while the Tornados improved to 3-3 on the season and 1-0 in league action.
 
UMHB jumped to an early 7-0 lead in the first two minutes of action. The Tornados answered with a 10-4 run to cut the Cru's advantage down to one. Concordia saw their first lead at the 10:10 mark when Adolfo Martinez claimed a three-pointer to bring the Tornados up 25-22. The Cru responded with big points from Kyle Wright and Josiah Johnson to give UMHB a five-point advantage with seven minutes remaining. Nathan Stolz hit a pair of baskets from behind the arc with four minutes to go, bringing the Cru up by nine. The Tornados responded with back-to-back three-pointers from Martinez to cut the gap and go into the half with the Cru ahead 43-30.
 
Second half action consisted of only free-throw baskets, until the 16:15 mark when Concordia's Jaylon Johnson hit back-to-back three-pointers to knot-up the contest 47-47. The next two minutes saw three lead changes before UMHB used a seven-point run to pull away. The Tornados capitalized on four Martinez three-pointers to tied-up the game 69-69 with five minutes left on the clock. Ty Prince and Johnson recorded back-to-back baskets to give the Cru back the lead, but the Tornados fought back with another three-pointer at the 1:08 mark to go up by two. Concordia capitalized on final free throws to secure their 81-77 win.
 
UMHB was led by Josiah Johnson with 22 points and nine rebounds. Luke Feely recorded 15 points while Wright added 12. Prince and Gibson Hearne added seven rebounds each to the Cru's 46 total.
 
UMHB returns to action Thursday, December 8^th in a 7:30 p.m. contest against LeTourneau University in Longview.