Austin, TX— The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor men's basketball team used a dominating first-half defensive effort to build a big lead and the Cru held off a late rally to post a 70-57 win over Wisconsin-Stout Thursday afternoon in Austin. The win comes in the second game of the Concordia Christmas Tournament and the 11th-ranked UMHB men improve to 9-0 on the season with the victory. The loss drops Wisconsin-Stout to 3-8 on the year.
The Cru broke open a tight game with a 22-5 run to close the first half as UMHB held Stout to just five first-half field goals in building a 36-15 halftime lead. The Cru defense held Stout to 19 percent shooting from the field in the first half and scored 14 points off turnovers. The lead would grow to as many as 25 points in the second half before Stout started to chip away. A three-pointer would cut the lead to 63-53 with 1:33 remaining, but Marlon Miller answered with a three at the other end for UMHB and the Cru would lead by at least 11 points the rest of the way.
Miller led all scorers with 27 points on 11-19 shooting. He also hit 5-9 from three-point range. Sterling Phillips added 15 points and James Allen chipped in 12 more off the bench. Greg Wiernas pulled down a team-best nine rebounds and Brian Todd added seven more.
Steve Pax and Jarvis Ragland led Stout with 11 points apiece. Erik Olson added 10 points and Alex Olman grabbed a game-high 10 boards.
Stout out rebounded UMHB 46-38 in the game, but the Cru forced 22 turnovers and converted them into 22 points. UMHB also held Stout to 30 percent shooting from the field while hitting 40 percent from the floor as a team.
The Cru will close out the tournament with a 2:00 PM tip-off against Concordia-Chicago tomorrow in Austin. UMHB will then return to American Southwest Conference play with road games at U.T.-Dallas and University of the Ozarks next weekend.