BROWNWOOD, Texas – University of Mary Hardin-Baylor men's basketball defeated Howard Payne University in a 98-93 decision Thursday night in Brownwood. This win improves the Cru's overall record to 13-5 with a 2-1 mark in American Southwest Conference play. Howard Payne falls to 8-11 on the season and 0-3 in league play.
 
Jerry Day, Jr. jumpstarted the action with an early three-pointer assisted by Eli Beard. Howard Payne answered within the minute, tying the game at three. The Yellow Jackets took the lead making it a 12-point deficit three minutes into the half. Co Rose cut into the margin, hitting a jumper with a shooting foul and adding one more point on the free throw, moving the score to 15-6 in Howard Payne's favor. Maurice Pinnock grabbed a steal in Yellow Jacket territory, scoring an easy layup down the court at 14:08, making it a 17-10 game. Eli Beard followed with a layup, adding one more on a free throw. Donta Coady re-entered the game making two layups to improve the game to 26-17.
 
The Cru cut the deficit to two off a jumper from Beard at 7:29, making it a 29-27 ball game. With 5:34 left in the half, Ryan Pondant recorded a big block, passing the ball off to Day who sunk a three-pointer to make it a one-point game. UMHB took its first lead of the night at 4:01 after a Co Rose three pointer put the Cru up 41-40. Both teams took turns holding the lead through the rest of the half, with the Cru coming out on top 49-48 into halftime.
 
Eli Beard led the Cru's scoring in the first half adding 12 points, followed by B.J. Anderson with 10 of his own. Anderson brought down a team-high in rebounds, tallying eight. Ryan Pondant added six rebounds and two blocks in the first 20 minutes of play. The Cru led in field goal percentage shooting 53.8%, while the Yellow Jackets finished the half at 35.7%.
 
Donta Coady opened the second half with a layup to extend the Cru's lead to 51-48. A Yellow Jacket jumper and free throw knotted the game 51-51 with 18:47 to play. UMHB regained the lead when Coady drew a shooting foul, hitting both free throws. Howard Payne's Armonie Ramey scored the equalizer making it a 53-53 game, but Josh Goings responded quickly with a three-pointer. The Cru went on an eight-point scoring streak taking control of the lead at 70-61.
 
Scoring stalled until 9:21 when the Yellow Jackets made a couple of free throws, followed by B.J. Anderson's two. Hudson  Johnson responded for the Yellow Jackets making a three from the field, but Donta Coady answered with a layup to move the score to 75-69. Howard Payne cut into UMHB's lead 78-75 with back-to-back layups at 6:13, forcing a Cru timeout. The Yellow Jackets scored with 4:36 remaining to knot the game at 80, then took an 82-80 lead quickly after. Coady made two free throws to take the game to 82-82. Beard hit a three at the 3:22 point, followed by a Josh Goings layup to regain the lead at 87-84. Maurice Pinnock sealed the 98-93 victory with two free throws, coming out on top of the hard-fought battle.
 
Eli Beard was the Cru's leading scorer with 20 points as five other Crusaders also added
double digit numbers. Ryan Pondant led defensively with 10 rebounds and two blocks. UMHB completed the game with a field goal percentage of 45.2%.
 
UMHB returns to action in Abilene on Saturday, February 1^st in a 3:00 PM contest against Hardin-Simmons.