Alpine, TX – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor men's basketball team broke open a tight game with a dominant second half and the Cru rolled to a 69-56 victory over Sul Ross State University Thursday night in Alpine. The UMHB men improve to 15-3 overall and 11-1 in American Southwest Conference play with their sixth straight win. The loss drops the Lobos to 4-14 overall and 3-9 in the ASC on the year.

The Cru scored the game's first points and never trailed, but could not shake the Lobos in the first half. UMHB's largest first half lead was seven and the Cru had to close the half with a 6-2 run to take a 35-30 halftime lead. The lead would move into double digits at 45-35 with 12:38 remaining in the game and Sul Ross would not cut the gap below eight points the rest of the way. UMHB would push the lead out to 23 points late in the game before the Lobos scored the final seven points of the game to cut it to the final margin.

Thomas Orr topped the Cru with 15 points after hitting five of his first six shots of the game. James Allen had 14 points and Antonie Chaney chipped in 13 more. Kitrick Bell finished with 10 points and nine rebounds for UMHB. The Cru shot 45 percent from the floor in the victory and out rebounded the Lobos 40-36. The victory was also win #275 at UMHB for Ken DeWeese.

Mychal Pinson led Sul Ross with 13 points and Carlos Montiel chipped in 10 more. The UMHB defense held the Lobos to 33 percent shooting from the field and Sul Ross hit just 6-30 from three-point range in the loss.

The Cru will return to action with a 3:00 PM start at Howard Payne University in Brownwood on Saturday. UMHB can wrap up an ASC Tournament berth with a victory over the Yellow Jackets. The Cru will then play road games at Concordia Texas and Hardin-Simmons next week before returning home to close out the regular season with four straight home contests.