Seguin, Texas – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor men's basketball team had a shot to win it at the end, but a furious rally fell just short as the Cru dropped an 87-84 decision to Texas Lutheran in the season opener Tuesday night in Seguin. UMHB opens the season at 0-1 while the Bulldogs are 1-0 to start the year.

Texas Lutheran led by 13 points at 74-61 with 10:23 left in the game before UMHB started to claw its way back into the game. The Cru cut it to 80-79 on Demarius Cress' lay-up with 5:09 remaining. TLU pushed it back to a three-point edge before Aubrie King buried a three with 3:25 to go to tie it up at 82-82. The two teams both hit a pair of free throws before Sterling Holmes hit one of two from the stripe to give the Bulldogs an 85-84 lead with 34 seconds left. UMHB played for one last shot, but Cress was off the mark with a lay-up with one second left. Zach Behr was fouled on the rebound and iced it with two final free-throws. The Cru led 43-42 at halftime after the first half featured five ties and four lead changes.

Daniel Mills led UMHB with 30 points and he also pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds. King added 23 points on 5-11 shooting from three-point range and Cress scored 16. Austen Stolte pulled down 10 boards for the Cru. UMHB shot 44 percent from the field and hit 9-24 from three-point range.

Holmes topped the Bulldogs with 25 points, Matthew Gillette added 14 off the bench and Jordan Kouremetis scored 13. Harris Jowell pulled down 10 rebounds as TLU out rebounded the Cru 42-37 in the game. The Bulldogs shot 43 percent from the field and went 13-26 from beyond the arc.

The Cru will now return home to host Southwestern University in the home opener on Saturday. The start time for that game has been pushed back from 4:00 to 6:00 PM to help avoid conflict with UMHB's home football playoff game.