The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor men’s basketball team will extend its own American Southwest Conference record for tournament appearances when the Cru makes its 19th trip to the ASC Championship Tournament later this week. UMHB will be playing in the conference tournament for the 16th consecutive season and holds a #1 seed after winning the ASC West Division title.
The Cru enters the tournament with a 20-5 overall record and UMHB went 11-5 in ASC play to win the West Division title for the sixth time in program history. The Cru will face East Division #4 seed East Texas Baptist (12-13) in a 2:30 pm Quarterfinal Game on Thursday in the opening game of the tournament. The Cru edged the Tigers 98-95 at the Mayborn Campus Center in the regular season meeting between the two teams in November. LaKendric Hyson had 29 points and 12 rebounds to lead four UMHB players in double figures. ETBU buried 15 three-pointers as a team and Robby Dooley scored a team-high 30 points. On the season, Sam Moore leads the Cru in scoring and rebounding at 20.1 points and 7.0 boards per game. Brian Long, Demarius Cress, Hyson and Byrale Carter are also averaging double figure points for the ASC’s highest scoring team. Five players average double figures for ETBU with Dooley leading the way at 19.9 points per contest. The UMHB-ETBU winner will advance to a 5:00 pm Semifinal on Friday to face the winner of the LeTourneau University (17-8)/Hardin-Simmons University (15-10) Quarterfinal matchup. The other side of the bracket has Louisiana College (19-6) taking on Concordia Texas (12-13) at 5:00 pm with tournament host U.T.-Dallas (21-4) playing McMurry University (10-15) at 7:30 pm. The winners of those two games will meet in the other Semifinal at 7:30 pm on Friday. The ASC Championship Game is scheduled for 6:00 pm on Saturday with the winner clinching the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Division III National Championships. The ASC Men’s Basketball Championship Tournament will be played at the UTD Activity Center on the campus of the University of Texas at Dallas in Richardson.
