Abilene, Texas – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor men's basketball team had its chances in the final minute, but could not hit the go-ahead basket as the Cru fell to Hardin-Simmons 84-79 Saturday afternoon in Abilene. UMHB closes out the regular season with a 17-8 overall record and the Cru went 14-6 in American Southwest Conference play. The Cowboys close out the regular season with a 19-6 overall record and a 15-5 mark in the ASC.
UMHB trailed much of the first half before closing out the half with a 12-4 run to grab a 43-39 lead at halftime. The lead would grow to five points in the early minutes of the second half before the Cowboys began to heat up. HSU led 78-71 with 3:29 left to play. UMHB would get baskets from Sidney Deloach and Jalen Jury before Justin Jones hit two free throws to make it 80-75 Hardin-Simmons. A Jury lay-in and two Russell Green free throws pulled the Cru to within 80-79 with 49 seconds left. Christian O'Neal hit a jumper with 17 seconds left to give HSU an 82-79 edge and UMHB missed a potential tying three-pointer with eight seconds left. The Cowboys added a pair of free throws with two seconds left to provide the final margin.
Jury came off the bench to score a team-high 25 points for the Cru. Jerard Graham added 24 points and five assists, Daniel Mills scored 11 points off the bench and Green pulled down a team-high 10 rebounds. UMHB hit just 1-8 three-pointers in the second half and finished at 32 percent from beyond the arc for the game. The Cru shot 42 percent from the field and went 13-15 from the free throw line compared to 22-28 from the stripe for HSU.
Justin Jones led HSU with 22 points and he was 12-14 from the free throw line, grabbed eight rebounds and was credited with eight blocked shots. O'Neal added 17 points, Nathaniel Jack scored 14 and Derrick Jefferson pulled down a game-high 14 rebounds. The Cowboys shot 40 percent as a team and went 8-27 from three-point range. HSU also out rebounded UMHB 50-36 in the game.
UMHB finished in a three-way tie for third place in the ASC regular season standings. The seedings and pairings for the ASC Championship Tournament will be announced later this weekend, but the Cru will play a First Round Game on Thursday. ETBU earned the #1 seed and the right to host this year's ASC Men's Basketball Championship Tournament. The tournament runs Thursday through Saturday and will be played in Marshall, Texas. The winner of the ASC Tournament earns the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III National Championships.