BELTON, Texas – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor men’s basketball team scored the first 12 points of the game and never looked back as UMHB cruised to a 96-78 victory over U.T.-Tyler Monday night in Belton. The Cru is now 10-1 on the season after the win. The loss drops the Patriots to 4-5 on the year.
UMHB stormed out of the gates and held UT-Tyler scoreless for more than five minutes in building a 12-0 lead. The Patriots scored five straight points, but the seven point deficit at 12-5 was as close as it would get. The Cru opened up a 21-point cushion in the first half before settling for a 50-30 halftime lead. That advantage would grow to as many as 33 points in the second half before UTT was able to whittle it down to the final margin after UMHB pulled its starters.
Sam Moore topped the Cru with 23 points and he was 4-9 from three-point range. Brian Long added 20 points, Demarius Cress scored 15 and Mike Davis scored 10. Shaqur Martin pulled down a team-high 10 rebounds. UMHB shot 49 percent for the game as a team and hit 12 three-pointers. The Cru out rebounded the Patriots 51-39 in the victory.
Darius Alford led UTT with 23 points. Omar Mohamed scored 12 and Xavier Fogle and Chris Craig had 10 points each. Fogle also snared a game-high 11 rebounds. The Patriots shot just 37 percent as a team and only hit 7-35 from long-range on the night.
UMHB will host Wayland Baptist for a 7 pm exhibition game on Tuesday. The Cru will then return to action with the Cru Classic on December 28th and 29th.
