MARSHALL, Texas  – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor men's basketball team opened American Southwest Conference action with a win at East Texas Baptist University Wednesday evening in Marshall. The win improved the Cru to 14-6 on the season while the Tigers fell to 6-14.
 
Neither team led by more than one possession until the 4:53 mark in the first half when Hudson Johnson made a free throw for a 28-23 Cru lead. Michael Roberts answered for the Tigers with a layup at 4:40 but Johnson netted two more foul shots to retake the five-point margin. Foul shots on both ends kept the five-point gap with ETBU cutting that down to one off a layup at 2:37 and 2:16.
 
The Tigers retook the lead at 1:49 off another layup but Elijah Lawrence answered with a three to put the Cru back up by two with just over a minute and a half to go in the first. Johnson made a jumper at 00:49 to put the Cru ahead by four, ending the first half with a 37-33 UMHB lead.
 
Johnson led the Cru with 13 points in the first half, followed by Zach Engels and Lawrence with seven each. UMHB shot 39.3 percent in the half, making 11 field goals with 13 free throws. The Cru also outrebounded the Tigers 25-17, bringing down 15 defensive boards.
 
ETBU cut the lead to two with 14:52 to play and down to one at the 14:07 mark. The half toggled in back-and-forth play until Grant Jessen went on a six-point run to put the Cru up by eight. Donta Coady made a layup at 6:32 for a ten-point margin, extended to 13 by a Hudson Johnson three-pointer. UMHB held a double-digit margin through most of the remainder, ending in a 71-62 win.

"I am really proud of the effort of our guys to get a road win to open up conference play," Head Coach Sam Patterson said. "Marshall is a really tough place to play, they have a great environment so I was really proud of our guys for coming out and really being the aggressors from the tip. They played together and although we struggled taking care of the ball at times I do think we battled through adversity. Getting to the free throw line and dictating the pace of the game was important for us. We know ETBU would want to slow the game down a little bit and I thought we were able to be opportunitstic to run and force some turnovers. Everyone who played contributed. It was a total team-effort and I thought we battled to get a nice run in the second half to open things up a little bit. I am really proud of our defense forcing turnovers and capitalizing on those turnovers. We know conference play is a clean slate for every team in the league. We are excited about the opportunity in another conference game on Saturday and are ready to start preparing." 
 
Johnson finished with 24 points, followed by Lawrence with 11. Coady and Engels each added 10 points while Engels also had a team-high seven boards. UMHB finished with 44 rebounds, nine assists and seven steals in the contest.
 
UMHB returns to action on Saturday, January 31^st in a 3 p.m. contest at Howard Payne University in Brownwood.