Marshall, Texas – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor men's basketball team made a run in the second half, but the Cru could not dig its way out of a first-half hole in a 76-58 loss to East Texas Baptist University Thursday night in Marshall. UMHB falls to 13-7 overall and 10-5 in American Southwest Conference play with the defeat. The loss is the third straight for the Cru and knocks them out of a tie for second place in the ASC. ETBU improves to 16-4 overall and 11-4 in the ASC on the year with the win.

East Texas Baptist took a 10-point lead just 10:24 into the game and then used a 12-2 run after a couple of UMHB buckets to open the game up late in that half. The Tigers would lead 38-21 at halftime after shooting 63 percent from the field as a team and hitting 5-9 from three-point range. The Cru opened the second half with a 14-3 run to pull to within six points at 41-35, but ETBU scored the next seven points to take the lead back to 13. UMHB would close to within seven points before the Tigers stretched it out again. The Cru finally cut the gap to 68-58 on Jerard Graham's lay-up with 1:45 left to play, but would not score again. ETBU hit eight free throws in the final minute to push it out to the final margin.

Jalen Jury led UMHB with 13 points. Graham and Daniel Mills chipped in 11 points apiece. The Cru shot just 31 percent from the field in the first half and finished at 39 percent for the game. UMHB was just 4-19 on three-pointers and was out rebounded by the Tigers 34-30 in the loss.

Dylan Augustine led ETBU with 20 points and he hit 4-8 from three-point range. Justin Felicia and Jamil Samuel scored 13 points each and Erby Thompson was 4-6 on three-pointers for 12 points. The Tigers shot 50 percent from the floor as a team in the game and went 10-21 from beyond the arc. ETBU was also 18-22 from the free throw line compared to UMHB's 8-13 night from the stripe.

The UMHB men will close out a four-game road trip with a 3:00 PM start at LeTourneau University in Longview on Saturday. The Cru then returns home to host U.T.-Tyler and University of the Ozarks in key ASC contests next week at the Mayborn Campus Center.