Belton, Texas – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor men's basketball team held off Howard Payne's frantic comeback bid with a flurry of free throws in the final minute as the Cru posted an 88-76 victory over the Yellow Jackets Thursday night in Belton. UMHB improves to 6-10 overall and 3-4 in American Southwest Conference play with the victory. The loss drops Howard Payne to 7-10 overall and 3-4 in the ASC on the year.

The Cru controlled the first half, building a double-digit lead less than 12 minutes into the half. That lead would grow to as many as 20 points before UMHB settled for a 48-29 edge at the break. The Cru shot 60 percent from the field as a team in the first half and held HPU to 33 percent as a team. UMHB also dominated the early going of the second half and led 64-46 with 9:11 remaining. The Yellow Jackets scored the next ten points to close to within eight at 64-56 with 6:07 left to play. Sidney Deloach hit two free throws to take the lead back to ten points. HPU whittled the lead down to three points at 74-71 with 2:23 to go. Deloach immediately answered with a three-point play at the other end and UMHB went 11-12 from the free-throw line down the stretch to put the game away as the Yellow Jackets scored just one field goal in the final 2:20 of the contest.

Demarius Cress led the Cru with 19 points as he hit 4-7 from three-point range. Deloach added 17 points and nine rebounds off the bench. Avery Polchinski and Daniel Mills chipped in ten points apiece and Layton Zinsmeister finished with nine assists and eight points. UMHB shot 49 percent from the field for the game and went 27-32 from the free-throw line.

Rickey Guillory led Howard Payne with 22 points and eight rebounds before he was ejected after picking up his second technical foul in the final minute. Kyhce Randall had 17 points and seven boards and DJ Gardner added ten points. The Yellow Jackets shot 41 percent as a team and went just 5-22 from three-point range in the loss.

The Cru will close out its four game home stand with a crucial ASC West Division game against Sul Ross State at 3:00 PM on Saturday. UMHB will then hit the road to take on Hardin-Simmons University and McMurry University next week in Abilene.