RICHARDSON, Texas – University of Mary Hardin-Baylor senior Josiah Johnson became the American Southwest Conference All-Time Leading Scorer Thursday in a 99-87 win over the University of Texas at Dallas in Richardson. Johnson scored 35 points against the Comets, recording his 2,394^th point as a Crusader and breaking the conference's scoring record by one point.
 
UMHB and UTD exchanged game-opening baskets before the Cru went on an eight-point run, led by Josiah Johnson with five points. UT Dallas cut the gap to six points before UMHB answered with six more points for an 18-6 margin. Tyler Stephenson hit a foul shot for UT Dallas at 14:40 before Zach Engels answered with a layup and Eli Beard hit a three-pointer for a 23-7 UMHB lead.
 
The Comets cut the gap to 12 points with 11:52 to play and again at 11:11. Johnson answered for the Cru, hitting a layup at 10:18 and a three-pointer at 9:39 for a 30-14 margin. The Cru took a 20-point lead off a jumper from Josh Goings at 7:55 and held onto the double-digit lead. UT Dallas continued to fight but the Cru pulled away again, outscoring the Comets 11-3 in the final 4:26 of action to go into halftime with a 57-29 lead.
 
Beard led the Cru with 26 points in the first half, making nine of 10 field goals. He was perfect in three-pointers (4-for-4) and foul shots (4-for-4) averaging 1.44 points per minute. Josiah Johnson added 19 first-half points, shooting 50 percent with six field goals and three three-pointers while Josh Goings led the team with six rebounds.
 
UMHB opened the second half with a layup and ensuing foul shot before the Comets hit a three-pointer to put the gap back in the twenties. Johnson responded with a jumper for another 30-point lead before the Comets went on a four-point run to cut the gap to 26. The Cru held on to the 20+ point lead until the 11:03 mark when Thibaut Tagnon made a layup to cut the gap to 19. The Comets continued to fight, dwindling the lead all the way down to seven with 5:50 to play in the second half. Johnson responded with a pair of foul shots to put the lead back up to nine before a three-pointer from Rob Wade cut it down to six.
 
Ryan Pondant and Beard followed with back-to-back layups for another double-digit margin but the Comets cut it back to singles on a layup from Austin Page. Josiah Johnson hit a three-pointer at 3:45 for an 11-point lead and his 35^th point of the contest, making him the conference's all-time leading scorer. UT Dallas cut the lead down to single digits just one more time but Beard hit another layup and Josh Goings hit a three-pointer to give the Cru a 14-point cushion with just over two minutes to go. Zach Engels finished off the win for UMHB with a pair of free throws, sealing the 99-87 win.
 
Johnson led the Cru with 35 points while Eli Beard added 33 and Josh Goings put up 21. UMHB shot 52.2 percent in the contest, including a 61.8 percent showing in the first half and a 52.2 percent performance from beyond the arc. Johnson also led the Cru with nine rebounds and three steals while Goings and Engels both put up a team-high six assists. UMHB scored 38 points in the paint and 18 points off fast breaks with 15 second-chance points and 11 points off turnovers. The Cru limited the Comets to a 44.3 percent showing in the contest, outrebounding them 43-32 and forcing 12 turnovers.
 
UMHB improved to 12-9 on the season and 7-6 in ASC action while the Comets fell to 14-8 overall and 10-3 in league play. The Cru returns to action on Saturday, February 10^th in a 3 p.m. contest at University of the Ozarks in Clarksville. UMHB closes out the regular season with a pair of home games next Thursday and Saturday at the Mayborn Campus Center in Belton.