Belton, Texas – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor men's basketball team used a fast start offensively to grab control of the game early and never looked back in an 87-61 victory over East Texas Baptist University Saturday afternoon in Belton. The win is the fifth in the last six games for the Cru and moves UMHB to 13-8 overall and 11-7 in American Southwest Conference play on the year. The loss drops the Tigers to 8-12 overall and 6-11 in the ASC on the year.
The win also gives Cru head coach Ken DeWeese his 300th career victory at UMHB. He becomes the first head coach in school history to reach 300 victories and now has a career record of 300-131 in his 16 seasons with the Cru.
UMHB opened the game with a 9-2 run and stretched the lead into double figures at 23-13 with 8:28 remaining in the first half. The Cru led by as many as 18 in the first half and held a 43-27 edge at halftime. ETBU opened the second half with an 8-2 run to cut the gap to 45-35, but that's as close as the Tigers would get. Jerard Graham's three-pointer made it a 20-point game at 60-40 and two Layton Zinsmeister free throws took the lead over 30 points at 78-47 with 5:48 left to play.
Graham led all scorers with 22 points for the Cru and he also had five rebounds and five assists. Kitrick Bell added a double-double with 16 points and a game-high 11 rebounds and Russell Green provided a huge spark off the bench with 15 points on 5-7 shooting, five blocked shots and four rebounds. James Allen scored 13 points and dished off nine assists and Antonie Chaney also reached double figures with 10 points for UMHB. The Cru shot 52 percent from the field and hit 9-21 from three-point range. UMHB also out rebounded the Tigers 43-36 and committed just seven turnovers.
Tyler Day led ETBU with 12 points on 4-6 shooting from three-point range. C.J. Jones and Kerry McClahan added 10 points apiece and Justin Felicia grabbed a team-best ten rebounds. The Tigers shot just 33 percent from the field and only hit 10-20 from the free-throw line in the loss.
UMHB will return to action with a pair of road games next week. The Cru will open the week with a 7:30 PM tip-off at University of the Ozarks next Thursday. UMHB will then face U.T.-Tyler in a 3:00 PM start next Saturday in Tyler. The Cru will close out the regular season with two home games the following week.