Belton, TX – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor men's basketball team took control of the game with a 16-0 first-half run and then held off several Schreiner rallies as the Cru posted a 79-65 victory over the Mountaineers Thursday night in Belton. UMHB improves to 19-3 overall and 15-1 in American Southwest Conference play with its tenth straight victory. The Cru also clinches the ASC West Division title with the win. Schreiner falls to 11-12 overall and 8-9 in ASC play with the loss.

There were four ties and five lead changes early in the first half before UMHB went on a 16-0 run to turn a 13-12 deficit into a 28-13 lead with 7:02 left in the half. Schreiner rallied to cut it to 40-31 at halftime. The Mountaineers cut the Cru lead to six at 45-39 with 16:53 left to play. But UMHB once again answered, this time with a 9-1 run to stretch it back to 14 points. Schreiner would get to within seven points at 68-61, but Thomas Orr buried a three-pointer on the next possession to push the lead back to double digits and the Mountaineers would not get closer than 10 points the rest of the way.

Orr led the Cru with 17 points off the bench and James Allen added 16 more. Cory Meals poured in 15 points for UMHB and Kitrick Bell added a double-double with 12 points and 13 rebounds. The Cru shot 44 percent from the field and out rebounded Schreiner 42-30. UMHB was just 27-44 from the free-throw line.

Stevan Guerrero led the Mountaineers with 21 points and A.J. Myres chipped in 20. No other player had more than seven points. Schreiner shot 37 percent from the field and went 21-25 from the stripe, but the Mountaineers turned the ball over 16 times and surrendered 11 steals to the Cru.

UMHB will return to action with a 3:00 PM home game against Texas Lutheran University on Saturday. The Cru will then close out the regular season with home games against Howard Payne University and Sul Ross State University next week.