Marshall, Texas – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor men's basketball team stormed back in the second half only to see the comeback fall just short in a 73-70 loss to East Texas Baptist Thursday night in Marshall. The Cru falls to 4-9 overall and 1-3 in American Southwest Conference play with the loss. The Tigers improve to 10-4 overall and 4-2 in ASC play with the victory.
East Texas Baptist was red-hot from long range in the first half. The Tigers hit eight of their first ten three-point attempts and finished 9-13 from beyond the arc in the first half as ETBU built a 43-27 halftime lead. The Cru's only lead came on Justin Gammill's lay-up to open the scoring 59 seconds into the game. ETBU answered with a three-pointer and led by as many as 18 in the first half. The Tiger lead would grow to 22 points early in the second half but UMHB wouldn't go away. Back-to-back baskets by Russell Green and Sidney Deloach pulled the Cru to within ten points at 64-54 with 7:19 remaining in the game. Shon Lewis added a three-pointer to cut the gap to seven, but ETBU responded with five straight points. The Cru then held the Tigers scoreless for more than four minutes and used a 10-0 to close to within 69-67 with 1:16 to go. After an ETBU basket, Jalen Jury buried a three-pointer to make it 71-70 Tigers with 40 seconds left. ETBU missed a shot at the other end and UMHB rebounded, but turned the ball over. Tyler Day hot two free-throws to make it 73-70 and the Cru missed a potential game-tying three-pointer in the final seconds.
Daniel Mills led UMHB with 17 points as he hit 7-8 from the free-throw line. Green added 13 points and matched Mills with a team-high four rebounds. The Cru shot 41 percent from the field and hit 6-19 from three-point range. UMHB forced 20 Tiger turnovers and converted them into 25 points in the game.
Day led ETBU with 16 points and he was 4-5 from three-point range. Jordan Quillan and Bret Atkins chipped in 12 points apiece and Dylan Augustine added 11 for the Tigers. ETBU finished 13-24 from three-point range and shot 46 percent overall as a team. The Tigers also went 10-10 from the free-throw line and outrebounded UMHB 36-29 in the game.
The Cru will now return home to open a four-game home stand. UMHB will host Concordia Texas for a 3:00 PM tip-off on Saturday. The Cru will then host University of the Ozarks, Howard Payne University and Sul Ross State University next week at the Mayborn Campus Center.