Seguin, Texas – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor men's basketball team erased a halftime deficit and then pulled away in the second half as the Cru posted a 74-56 victory over Texas Lutheran University Thursday night in Seguin. The UMHB men improve to 13-3 overall and 9-1 in American Southwest Conference play with the win. The loss drops the Bulldogs to 5-12 overall and 3-8 in the ASC on the season.

Texas Lutheran led 34-30 after a first half that saw the Cru build an early 10-3 lead. The Bulldogs scored the final five points of the half after UMHB took a late 30-29 edge. The Cru opened the second half with a 9-2 run and grabbed a 39-36 lead. TLU cut it to 39-38, but never got closer than three points after that. UMHB pushed the lead into double digits at 51-41 with 9:34 remaining and the Cru would lead by as many as 20 points to coast to the win.

Cory Meals led UMHB with 14 points and seven rebounds. Kitrick Bell added 13 points on 5-8 shooting and James Allen had 12 points and six boards. Nine different players scored for the Cru and UMHB shot 63 percent from the field in the second half after hitting just 33 percent in the first. The Cru also out rebounded TLU 36-28 in the game.

Brandon Potts was 9-12 from the field to lead all scorers with 20 points for the Bulldogs. Troy Griffith and Justin Lindsey added eight points apiece. TLU shot just 26 percent in the second half and went 2-11 from three-point range in the loss.

Thursday's game opens a six-game conference road trip for the UMHB men. The trip resumes with a 3:00 PM start at Schreiner University Saturday in Kerrville. The Mountaineers are coached by former Cru player and assistant coach Jimmy Smith.