Longview, Texas – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor men's basketball team fought back from multiple double-digit deficits in the second half, but LeTourneau had an answer each time as the Yellowjackets posted a 93-80 victory over the Cru Saturday afternoon in Longview. UMHB drops to 8-5 overall and 1-3 in American Southwest Conference play with the loss. LeTourneau improves to 11-4 overall and 5-3 in the ASC on the season with the win.

The Cru lead on three occasions in the first half, but never by more than two points and LeTourneau held a 43-40 edge at halftime. The Yellowjackets would stretch it to double figures at 56-46 with 15:40 remaining in the contest. The lead would grow to 13 points before UMHB battled back to cut the gap to 64-61 with 9:11 left to play. After a couple of LeTourneau Alec Cohoff converted a three-point play to make it 67-61 Yellowjackets, but Demarius Cress hit four free throws in two trips down the court to pull the Cru to within 67-65. LeTourneau responded with a 13-2 run to take the lead back into double digits and UMHB would not get closer than nine points the rest of the way.

Cress had a huge game for the Cru and led all scorers with 35 points. Braden Hammond added 13 points and Aedan Welch pulled down a career-high 13 rebounds in his first start of the season. UMHB shot 35 percent from the field and went 5-22 from three-point range. The Cru did hold a slight rebounding edge with a 41-39 advantage on the boards.

Jeff Martin topped LeTourneau with 21 points and Colhoff recorded a double-double with 18 points and 11 rebounds. Three other Yellowjackets also reached double figures in scoring. LeTourneau shot 54 percent from the field as a team and hit 10-19 (53 percent) from beyond the arc in the victory.

The Cru returns home to welcome East Texas Baptist University to the Mayborn Campus Center for a 7:30 PM start on Wednesday. UMHB will then play road games at Concordia Texas on Saturday and at U.T. Dallas next Monday to open a four-game road swing.