Belton, Texas – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor men's basketball team never recovered from a double-digit first half deficit as the Cru fell to East Texas Baptist 75-55 Monday afternoon in Belton. The loss snaps UMHB's five-game winning streak and drops the Cru to 7-4 overall and 4-2 in American Southwest Conference play on the season. The Tigers improve to 9-1 overall and 4-1 in the ASC on the year with the victory.

ETBU jumped out to a 21-11 lead with 8:44 left in the first half and pushed the lead to as many as 16 points before Jerard Graham's three-pointer with five seconds left cut it to 41-28 Tigers at halftime. ETBU maintained a double-digit lead until Daniel Mills hit two free throws to cut the advantage to 54-46 with 10:01 left to play. The Tigers answered with a 15-2 run to take the lead out to 21 points at 69-48 with 4:15 remaining and never looked back on the way to the victory.

Graham topped the Cru with 21 points, Russell Green added 12 and Mills had 11 points off the bench. Layton Zinsmeister had seven assists for UMHB. The Cru shot just 38 percent from the field in the game and went just 2-16 from three-point range. UMHB also lost the rebounding battle 32-24 in the contest.

Dylan Augustine led the Tigers with 19 points on 5-8 shooting from beyond the arc. Tyler Day had 11 points and Erby Thompson added 10. Jamil Samuel had eight points, 10 rebounds, five assists and three blocked shots. ETBU hit 14-27 from three-point range in the victory and shot 52 percent overall as a team.  

The Cru will now hit the road for a pair of ASC contests later this week. UMHB will take on University of the Ozarks in a 7:30 PM start in Clarksville, Arkansas on Thursday. That game will also be broadcast locally on KTEM 1400 AM. The Cru will close out the week with a 3:00 PM tip at U.T.-Tyler on Saturday.