RICHARDSON, Texas - The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor men's basketball team clawed its way back but came up just short in a Thursday evening contest at the University of Texas at Dallas in Richardson. The 72-69 loss dropped the Cru to 11-4 on the season while the Comets improved to 10-6. 

UT Dallas opened the first half on a 10-2 run to take an eight-point lead on the Cru. The Comets held a multi-possession lead through most of the first half. UMHB used a 5-0 run to cut the gap to three with 9:13 to play and after the Comets extended the margin again, cut it back down to four at the 5:17 mark. UT Dallas held on, staying ahead by two possessions before a foul shot from Eli Beard at 2:26 cut the game to a 30-27 UTD lead. The Comets answered with a layup before Zach Engels hit a foul shot for a 32-28 score. Josh Goings answered with another layup at 1:13, dwindling the Comet lead to just two. The remainder of the half played scoreless until Peyton Dublin made a UTD layup at 00:03 to send the game into halftime with the Cru at a four-point deficit. 

The Comets took a substantial lead in the second half, leading by as many as 11. UMHB continued to fight back, using an 8-0 run started at 7:35 to cut the gap down to one with 6:01 to play. The game played scoreless from that point until 4:13 when Nick Donnelly hit a jumper for UTD, putting them ahead by three. UMHB cut the gap again off a pair of foul shots from Beard and evened the game at 65 with a free throw from Donta Coady. The Comets answered with two more free throws at 2:00 before an Engels layup knotted the contest at 67. 

Another layup from the Comets followed by a jumper from Josh Goings put the score in a 69-69 tie before Austin Page added a layup for UTD at 00:28. UMHB garnered the rebound on Page's ensuing foul shot but a missed jumper at 00:12 and another at 00:04 held the score at 71-69. The Comets tacked on one more point off a free throw in the final second to secure the 72-69 win. 

Eli Beard led the Cru with 16 points, going 6-for-6 in foul shots and adding six assists. Jerry Day, Jr. added 13 points with a team-high seven rebounds while Goings put up 10 points. Zach Engels led the Cru with four steals in the contest as UMHB forced 18 turnovers. The Cru shot 40 percent in the game with 34 points in the paint and 23 points off the bench. 

UMHB returns to action on Thursday, January 23rd in a 7:30 p.m. contest against East Texas Baptist University at the Mayborn Campus Center in Belton.