Belton, TX – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor men's basketball team held LeTourneau scoreless for more than seven minutes and then held off a late comeback in a 64-58 victory over the Yellow Jackets Saturday night in Belton. The Cru improves to 3-2 overall and 1-0 in American Southwest Conference play with the victory. The loss drops LeTourneau to 1-4 overall and 0-2 in the ASC on the season.
LeTourneau led by as many as six points early in the first half before UMHB fought back to tie the game at 25 on a Thomas Orr three-pointer. LeTourneau pushed the lead back to four points at 30-26 with 2:22 remaining in the first half. The Cru scored the final five points and took a 31-30 lead on Orr's jumper with 40 seconds left in the half. The Yellow Jackets would not score again until the 14:29 mark of the second half as UMHB built a nine-point lead. The Cru went up by 11 at 58-47 before the Yellow Jackets chipped away to get back within four at 60-56 with 50 seconds on the clock. That is as close as LeTourneau would get as UMHB iced the game from the free-throw line.
James Allen led the Cru with 16 points, going 10-10 from the stripe. Brian Todd added 13 on 5-7 shooting and Orr finished with 10 points. UMHB shot 40 percent from the field and went 21-28 from the free-throw line. The Cru also out rebounded LeTourneau 37-32 with Kitrick Bell grabbing 10 of those.
Chad Williams led the Yellow Jackets with a game-high 20 points and he also pulled down nine rebounds. Justin Jones added 17 more. LeTourneau shot 43 percent from the field, but went just 4-7 from the line.
The Cru will return to action with a road game at Mississippi College next Saturday. UMHB will then close out the road swing at Louisiana College on Monday, December 10th.