Walla Walla, WA – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor men's basketball team fought back from a 19-point second-half deficit, but the Cru comeback fell short in a 94-84 loss to Whitman College Sunday afternoon in Walla Walla, Washington. The loss closes out a two-game swing through Washington for the UMHB men and drops the team to 1-2 on the season. The Missionaries improve to 3-1 on the year with the victory.
Whitman scored the game's first six points before the Cru stormed back to take a 31-23 lead on Layton Zinsmeister's three-pointer with 6:25 left in the first half. Whitman answered with a run of its own to tie the game at 41 at halftime. The game see-sawed back and forth through the early going of the second half before Whitman pulled away for an 86-67 lead with 6:13 left to play. UMHB would shave ten points off the deficit, closing to within 90-81 with 1:53 to go, but that's as close as the Cru would get.
James Allen led UMHB with 16 points and he added five assists. Cory Meals chipped in 14 points and Thomas Orr and Antonie Chaney scored 10 points apiece. Kitrick Bell pulled down a game-high 15 rebounds for the Cru. UMHB shot 41 percent from the field and out rebounded Whitman 58-44, but the Cru turned the ball over 27 times in the loss.
Ignas Pavilonis led all scorers with 23 points off the bench for Whitman. Matt Mounier had 17 points and hit 5-7 from three-point range. Ben Eisenhardt scored 16 and Josh Duckworth also reached double figures with 10. The Missionaries shot 40 percent from the field and hit 43 percent from three-point range in the game.
The Cru will continue its road trip with a 7:00 PM road, non-conference game at Trinity University on Wednesday. UMHB will then return home to open American Southwest Conference play against LeTourneau University next Saturday, December 1st.