BELTON, Texas – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor basketball team earned a 107-78 win over Arlington Baptist University Thursday evening in Belton, improving the Cru to 5-4 on the season.  
 
UMHB led early in the first half but the Patriots fought back to tie the game at nine. A jumper from Zach Engels, followed by back-to-back three-pointers from Hudson Johnson and Donta Coady put the Cru up by eight before Arlington Baptist ended the drought with a free throw.
 
The Patriots pulled within three and eventually tied the contest at 19 with 9:35 left in the half. ABU took the lead after that but a pair of free throws from Engels evened the contest again at 23. The contest played back-and-forth from there with Jonathan Leggett hitting a three-pointer at the buzzer to send UMHB into halftime with a 48-44 lead.
 
Hudson Johnson anchored the Cru with 12 points in the half, followed by Engels with eight. UMHB shot 60 percent in half with 18 field goals and six three-pointers.

"I thought we had stretches in the first half where we did not follow our defensive game plan," Head Coach Sam Patterson said. "We gave up too many one-on-one plays defensively in the first half where we did not have any gap integrity off hte ball. We gave up too many offensive rebounds and I felt like our first shot defense was solid but it was the second and third opportunities that hurt us." 
 
UMHB opened the second half on an 8-2 run and held the lead. The Cru used back-to-back threes at 15:10 and 14:50 to take a 12-point lead on the Patriots. UMHB held the high ground, extending the lead to 19 and forcing ABU to call a timeout with 8:07 to go. Legget helped the Cru hit the century mark with a pair of foul shots at 2:46 as UMHB went on to earn the 107-78 win.
 
Johnson led the Cru with 26 points while Engels added 16 and Elijah Lawrence tallied 12. Engels led the Cru with eight rebounds while Johnson added six assists and Leggett recorded three steals.

"I'm proud of the response our guys had coming out of halftime," Patterson added. "Our energy picked up and we only gave up four offensive rebounds in the second half. Once we buckled down defensively and started playing big in our gaps, we started to get stops that led to transition opportunities for us on offense." 
 
The Cru returns to action on December 14^th in a 2 p.m. contest at Concordia University Texas in Austin.

"I'm very happy to get another win at home in front of a great crowd," Patterson ended. "Thank you to everyone who showed up to support this team. We are excited about the next opportunity in Austin against a well-coached team. I know our guys are looking forward to the challenge and excited for the opportunity to play another quality opponent on the road."