Belton, Texas – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor men's basketball team rode hot first-half shooting to a big early lead and the Cru never looked back on the way to a 93-61 victory over McMurry University Thursday night in Belton. UMHB improves to 9-15 on the season with the victory. The loss drops the Warhawks to 3-21 on the year.

The Cru scored the game's first five points and opened with a 10-2 run. McMurry closed to within two points before UMHB took charge of the game. The first double-digit lead was 19-8 with 12:25 remaining in the first half. Demarius Cress came off the bench to hit his first four three-point attempts as the Cru led by as many as 28 points in the first half. UMHB was up 57-32 going to halftime after shooting 75 percent from the field in the first half and going 6-10 from beyond the arc. The Warhawks never got closer than 24 points in the second half as the lead grew to as many as 33 points before the Cru coasted to the win.

Braden Hammond led UMHB with a career-high 19 points on 6-11 shooting. Daniels Mills chipped in 15 and Cress scored 12. Sidney Deloach and Russell Green had 10 points apiece for the Cru and Justin Gammill pulled down a team-best eight rebounds. UMHB shot 54 percent from the field for the game and went 9-22 from three-point range. The Cru also hit 24-35 from the free-throw line.

Romelo Robinson led the Warhawks with 12 points off the bench. Nate Estrada was the only other McMurry player in double figures with 10 points. Calvin McGee had a game-high nine rebounds. The Warhawks shot just 27 percent from the field in the game and only hit 8-31 from three-point range. McMurry outrebounded UMHB 44-41 in the game but turned the ball over 18 times.

The Cru will close out the regular season with a 3:00 PM home game against Hardin-Simmons University on Saturday. UMHB can clinch a berth in the American Southwest Conference Championship Tournament with a win over the Cowboys or a Howard Payne loss to Sul Ross State on Saturday.