Marshall, Texas – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor men's basketball team rallied in the final minutes, but the Cru comeback fell short in a 106-96 loss to East Texas Baptist Saturday afternoon in Marshall. UMHB falls to 4-3 overall and 0-2 in American Southwest Conference play with the loss. The Tigers move to 3-1 overall and 2-0 in the ASC with the victory.

East Texas Baptist opened the second half with a 16-4 run to build a 17-point lead at 65-48. The lead would grow to many as 25 points at 92-67 before UMHB start to chip away. The Cru put together a 26-9 run of its own and closed to within eight points as two Braden Hammond free throws made it 101-93 with 30 seconds remaining. The Tigers answered with four consecutive free throws to push it back to 12 points. Sam Moore hit a three-pointer with three seconds left but an ETBU free throw in the final second to take it out to the final margin.

Demarius Cress led the Cru with 25 points and he added five rebounds and three assists. Moore poured in 19 points off the bench and LaKendric Hyson scored 18 points for UMHB. Justin Gammill hauled in 10 rebounds to lead all players. The Cru shot 48 percent from the field but hit just 8-22 from three-point range.

Jordan Gray had a career-high 25 points to top ETBU and he hit 6-11 from beyond the arc. Robby Dooley scored 16 points and three other players also reached double figures for the Tigers. ETBU shot 21-44 from three-point range and shot 43 percent from the floor as a team. The Tigers also held a narrow rebounding edge at 44-42 in the victory.

The Cru men will return home to host a pair of games next week. UMHB will host U.T.-Dallas for a conference game on Thursday night before taking on Southwestern University in a non-conference tilt on Saturday.