Abilene, Texas – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor men's basketball team had a chance to tie the game or take the lead in the final seconds but turned the ball over as Hardin-Simmons escaped with a 79-71 victory over the Cru Thursday night in Abilene. The loss drops UMHB to 6-12 overall and 3-6 in American Southwest Conference play. The Cowboys snap a three-game losing skid and improve to 11-7 overall and 6-3 in the ASC with the win.

Hardin-Simmons led 44-33 at halftime and never trailed in the second half. UMHB started to chip away and pulled to within 71-69 on Avery Polchinski's three-pointer with 1:35 remaining to play. The Cowboys hit a jumper at the other end to make it 73-69 with 1:13 to go. Daniel Mills made two free-throws on the next Cru possession to cut the lead to 73-71 with 50 seconds on the clock. Justin Jones would miss the front end of a one-and-one on the next HSU possession and Daniel Mills pulled down the rebound to give UMHB a shot at the lead. But a pass inside was tipped off a Cru player to give the ball back to Hardin-Simmons and the Cowboys hit six straight free throws after not making a shot from the stripe to that point to put the game out of reach. UMHB led early in the game, but HSU closed out the first half with a flourish to build that 11-point edge at the break.

Russell Green had a huge night for the Cru, pouring in 22 points on 10-14 shooting and pulling down a game-high 16 rebounds. Mills added 19 points and Demarius Cress scored 17. UMHB shot 50 percent from the field in the second half and hit 46 percent for the game, but the Cru was just 4-15 from three-point range. UMHB out rebounded the Cowboys 39-32 in the contest.

Christian O'Neal topped Hardin-Simmons with 18 points and Nathaniel Jack and Caleb Spoon had 17 points apiece. Jack also grabbed 10 rebounds. Duane Hopper also reached double figures with 13 points. The Cowboys shot 46 percent as a team and went 13-37 from beyond the arc. HSU finished 6-9 from the free-throw line after going 0-3 from the stripe in the first 39 minutes of the game.

The Cru will close out its Abilene road trip with a 3:00 PM start at McMurry University on Saturday. That game does not count in the ASC standings. UMHB will then return home to host U.T.-Dallas in a return to conference play at 7:30 PM next Thursday.