AUSTIN, Texas – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor men's basketball team took down previously unbeaten Concordia University Texas in a 14-point victory Sunday afternoon in Austin. The win improved the Cru to 6-4 on the season while the Tornados fell to 6-1.
 
UMHB jumped to an early 8-0 lead with Donta Coady and Connor Zamiara each scoring four points. The Tornados broke the drought at 17:21 and pulled the game within two at the 15:28 mark. The game played scoreless from there until the 12:46 mark when Elijah Lawrence made a layup for the Cru. UMHB held the lead until 10:39 when the Tornados knotted the half at 14 points. The rest of the half toggled in back-and-forth play, sending the contest into halftime at a 34-34 knot.
 
Donta Coady led the Cru with seven first-half points, followed by Zamiara and Engels with six points each. Engels also had a team-high eight rebounds while Lawrence tallied three assists.
 
The second half continued in back-and-forth action until a three-pointer from Cam Stinson and tip-in from Josiah Wray put the Cru up by six. The Tornados fought back and pulled within three but a pair of foul shots from Hudson Johnson followed by back-to-back layups from Wray and Johnson put the Cru up by nine with 9:43 to play. UMHB extended the lead to 10 off a Coady three-pointer at 9:19 and did not let up, cruising to a 96-82 victory.
 
Connor Zamiara led the Cru with 18 points, followed by Hudson Johnson with 16, Donta Coady with 15, Zach Engels with 13 and Elijah Lawrence with 12. Engels also led the Cru with 14 rebounds and three steals while Lawrence added six assists. UMHB shot 43.7 in the contest and limited the Tornados to a 34.8 percentage. The Cru grabbed 44 defensive rebounds to the Tornados' 27 and led for 28:18 of the contest.
 
"First of all, I have a ton of respect for Coach Bonewitz," Head Coach Sam Patterson said. "Being from San Antonio, you can't get too deep into the high school history books before you see the impact that his dad had on the city and the game. What Stan has done at Concordia is terrific and the program he has built is a testament to his hard work and dedication. I thought our guys were ready to play from the jump today. Getting out to a quick 8-0 lead helped set the tone for the kind of game it was going to be. It was a point of emphasis before the game to come out and start fast.  The way Concordia plays is really difficult to simulate in practice. I am really proud of the way our players handled the practices coming back from Washington, being able to play multiple teams with multiple styles can be difficult if you don't have the type of leadership that this team has.  We knew this game was going to be a game of runs. I was really happy for Connor to have such a great performance today. His veteran leadership is key for this team, and his impact doesn't always show up in the box score like it did today. He is one of the toughest players I've ever coached. Getting his tooth chipped today didn't affect his mentality one bit.  I thought the poise we showed as a collective unit when Concordia was chipping away at our lead took some great resilience and maturity. You have to be poised facing that type of pressure and aggression. I'm proud of the fight our players showed. We talked about before the game having a team full of players and coaches and managers who constantly do whatever it takes to win. And that was put on display today. We have to finish strong before Christmas break. We are facing a tough Centenary team on the road. They are a young team on paper who is going to be ready to defend home court at the end of the week. It's important for us to have a great week of practice and finish this stretch before the holidays on a strong note."

UMHB returns to action on Friday, December 19^th in a 6 p.m. contest at Centenary College in Louisiana.