Belton, Texas – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor men's basketball team came up with two clutch defensive stops and hit crucial free throws down the stretch as the Cru held off Rust College 83-79 Friday evening in Belton. The win closed out the Cru Classic.

UMHB led 58-50 with 15:25 remaining in the game but Rust kept fighting its way back into the game and tied it at 67 with 8:18 left to play. Two Braden Hammond free throws and back-to-back buckets from Aedan Welch gave the Cru a six-point lead at 73-67. The Bearcats answered to tie it up at 75-75 with 3:50 to go. Welch converted a three-point play and Daniel Mills added a free throw to make it 79-75 UMHB. Rust cut it to two points at 81-79, but Austen Stolte blocked shots on the next two Rust possessions and Mills hit two more free throws to ice the victory. The Cru led by as many as 13 points in the first half before settling for a 47-43 lead at halftime.

Aubrie King topped UMHB with 19 points and he added a team-high ten rebounds. Hammond also scored 19 points and Mills scored 15. Welch had a career-high 11 points and grabbed four key offensive rebounds and Demarius Cress also reached double figures with ten points for the Cru. UMHB shot 46 percent from the field and went 8-20 from three-point range. The Cru was 15-20 from the free throw line and out rebounded Rust 43-31 in the game.

Dominique Brown led the Bearcats with 24 points and Allen Potts had 18 points and 11 rebounds. Jarvis Jackson added 17 points and Romeo Carter scored 14. Rust shot 46 percent from the field and went 11-12 from the stripe. The Bearcats were 8-23 from beyond the arc.

The UMHB men improve to 8-3 with their sixth straight victory. The loss drops the Bearcats to 1-14 on the year. The Cru will return to action with a return to American Southwest Conference play next week. UMHB will take on U.T. Tyler in a 7:30 PM start next Thursday in Tyler before closing out the week with a 3:00 PM tip at LeTourneau University Saturday in Longview.