Las Vegas, Nevada – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor men's basketball team went toe-to-toe with the #2 team in the nation, but the Cru fell just short in a 68-58 loss to Whitworth University Wednesday evening. The game was played on the final day of the D3hoops.com Classic in Las Vegas. UMHB drops to 3-6 on the season with the loss. The Pirates improve to 10-0 on the year with the victory.

The two teams traded leads early in the game before Whitworth opened up an eight-point lead at 24-16 with 3:04 left in the first half. The Cru closed the gap to 26-24 with an 8-2 run before the Pirates hit two late free throws for a 28-24 halftime lead. UMHB would take a 48-42 lead midway through the second half on two Russell Green free-throws, a Justin Gammill three-pointer and Avery Polchinski's jumper. Matt Studacher scored five straight points for Whitworth to cut the lead to one. The two teams then traded the lead two more times before George Valle put the Pirates ahead to stay with 7:41 remaining. The lead would grow to six before Gammill's three-point closed the gap to 59-56 with 2:46 left to play. Whitworth answered with a three-pointer and UMHB missed its final six shots from the field as the Pirates would able to pull away with clutch free-throw shooting down the stretch.

Green led the Cru with 22 points and eight rebounds. He also scored 11 of UMHB's first 13 points in the game. Layton Zinsmeister and Gammill added seven points apiece and Zinsmeister had four assists. The Cru shot just 32 per cent from the field and went 5-14 from three-point range. UMHB also turned the ball over 15 times while forcing just 10 Pirate turnovers. The Cru did win the rebounding battle by a 44-39 advantage.

Love and Jurlina topped Whitworth with 15 points apiece. George Valle had 14 points and a game-high 11 rebounds. The Pirates shot 38 per cent from the field as a team and went 8-30 from beyond the arc in the game.

The Cru will close out a five-game road trip with a 3:00 PM start at Louisiana College on Saturday. UMHB will then return home to host LeTourneau and East Texas Baptist next Thursday and Saturday.