Alpine, Texas – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor men's basketball team rallied from a 15-point second half deficit only to see the comeback bid fall just short in the final seconds as Sul Ross State escaped with a 77-75 victory over the Cru Thursday night in Alpine. UMHB drops to 7-15 overall and 3-9 in American Southwest Conference play with the loss. The Lobos improve to 14-8 overall and 9-3 in ASC play with the victory.

Sul Ross State opened the game with a 12-0 run, but UMHB fought back to take a 23-22 lead with 6:32 remaining in the first half. The Lobos responded and took the lead back 34-26 at halftime. That lead would grow to 50-35 with 13:55 left to play before the Cru again fought back with a 16-0 run. Braden Hammond provided a spark off the bench ad Demarius Cress scored five straight points to give UMHB a 51-50 lead with 8:35 to go. The two teams would trade the lead several times before Sul Ross opened up a 72-65 advantage with 1:21 on the clock. Russell Green's jumper made it 73-72 Sul Ross with 26 seconds left, but the Lobos hit two free throws at the other end to make it 75-72. Cress was off the mark with a three-pointer and Sul Ross added two more free-throws for a 77-72 edge. Cress was good on a three with one second to go, but it was too little, too late for UMHB.

Hammond led the Cru with a career-high 18 points after entering the contest with just nine points scored on the year. Cress also had 18 points, Green scored 13 points and grabbed a team-best nine rebounds and Daniel Mills finished with 12 points, 11 of them in the first half. The Cru shot just 25 percent from the field in the first half but hit 58 percent in the second. UMHB out rebounded the Lobos by a 49-30 edge in the defeat but missed 11 free throws.

Brock Anders led Sul Ross with 17 points and Caleb Thomasson added 16 points and nine rebounds. Rocky Feliciano chipped in 13 points and Julian Dawson scored 12 points and pulled down a game-high 11 boards for the Lobos. Sul Ross shot 44 percent from the field as a team

The Cru will take on Howard Payne in a crucial ASC West Division game at 3:00 PM Saturday in Brownwood. A UMHB win would move the two teams into a tie for the fourth and final berth in the ASC Championship Tournament entering the final week of the season and would also give the Cru a sweep of the season series between the two teams. UMHB will then return home to close out the regular season with games against McMurry University and Hardin-Simmons University next week.