MARSHALL, Texas – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor men's basketball team earned a dominating 20+ point win at East Texas Baptist University Saturday afternoon in Marshall. The win improved the Cru to 14-8 on the season and evened them at 3-3 in American Southwest Conference action while the Tigers fell to 6-18 overall and 2-5 in league play.
Josh Goings made the first basket of the game for a 2-0 UMHB lead before ETBU responded with a 7-0 run to take a five-point lead.
Jerry Day, Jr. broke the drought with a free throw at 16:08, followed by a layup from
Ryan Pondant at 15:17 to pull the Cru within two. ETBU went back ahead by two possessions but back-to-back layups from
Josiah Wray and
Eli Beard evened the first half at nine.
Zach May hit the go-ahead three-pointer at 11:28 as the Cru surged ahead, going up by as many as eight. ETBU fought back with a four-point run but the Cru answered again as Goings hit a pair of foul shots before assisting a
Zach May three-pointer. UMHB went up by 10 with 3:14 to play and held on to a significant margin, dropping to single-digits just twice through the rest of the half.
ETBU cut the gap to six early in the second half. UMHB fought back, regaining the double-digit margin off a 5-0 run, highlighted by a layup and ensuing foul shot from
Maurice Pinnock. The Tigers cut the gap again but UMHB was persistent, eventually taking a 15-point lead after a 6-0 run. The Cru made it a 20-point game with 6:51 to play and did not let up, cruising to an 82-57 win.
Josh Goings led the Cru with 19 points, followed by
Eli Beard with 18 and
Maurice Pinnock with 14. UMHB shot 45.6 percent in the contest with a 50 percent showing in the first half. Goings finished with a double-double, adding 10 boards while
Ryan Pondant brought down seven. Goings and
Zach May each recorded a team-high three assists with Goings and Pondant both grabbing three steals.
UMHB totaled 44 points in the paint with 22 points off turnovers and 18 second-chance points. The Cru also had 34 points off the bench against the Tigers
UMHB returns to action on Thursday, February 20
th in a 7:30 p.m. contest against Hardin-Simmons University at the Mayborn Campus Center in Belton.
