Belton, Texas – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor men's basketball team fought back from multiple double-digit deficits, but the Cru could not overcome U.T.-Dallas' clutch free-throw shooting as the Comets posted an 84-78 victory Thursday night in Belton. UMHB drops to 7-13 overall and 3-7 in American Southwest Conference play with the loss. The Comets improve to 14-5 overall and 7-4 in ASC play on the season with the victory.

The Cru scored the game's first four points, but Jon Hatcher hit three three-pointers in the first 2:50 of the game to even it at 9-9. The Comets would open up their first double-digit lead of the game at 32-21 with 5:01 to play in the first half and UTD led 43-33 at halftime. UMHB cut the gap to 45-39 early in the second half, but the Comets used a 7-0 run to take it back to 13 points. The UTD lead would grow to as many as 15 points before the Cru again pulled to within six points at 76-70 with 36 seconds remaining. Demarius Cress would score six points for UMHB from there, but the Cru could not gain any ground as the Comets hit 8-8 from the line in the final seconds.

Sidney Deloach led UMHB with 24 points and 13 rebounds off the bench and he was 7-11 from the field. Daniel Mills had 19 points, 13 of them in the first half and Cress added 15, all of them after halftime. Russell Green also pulled down 12 rebounds for the Cru. UMHB out rebounded UTD 44-37, but shot just 39 percent from the field in the game. The Cru went 5-21 from three-point range.

Caleb Banks led a balanced Comet attack with 14 points and he added eight assists. Hatcher finished with 13 points and Kyle Coulter and Noah Hill chipped in 11 points each. Chase Davis had a team-best 11 rebounds. UTD shot 50 percent from the field in the first half while hitting 8-17 three-pointers. The Comets shot 44 percent overall and finished at 11-23 from beyond the arc. U.T.-Dallas also turned the ball over just seven times in the game.

The Cru will play its next three games on the road before returning home to host a pair of games to close out the regular season. That road trip opens with a 3:00 PM tip-off against Concordia Texas in Austin on Saturday.