Belton, TX – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor men’s basketball team snapped a two-game losing streak in style as the Cru took control of the game in the second half and cruised to an 86-65 win over Howard Payne Thursday night in Belton. The UMHB men, ranked 15th in the country in the D3hoops.com Top 25 Poll, improve to 12-3 overall and 9-2 in American Southwest Conference play with the victory. The loss drops the Yellow Jackets to 8-8 overall and 6-6 in the ASC.

The Cru opened up a 10-point halftime lead at 38-28 after holding HPU to 32 per cent shooting in the first half. UMHB then used a 14-4 run to open the second half to stretch the lead to 20 and the Yellow Jackets would not get closer than 15 points the rest of the way. The Cru shot 48 per cent from the field and went 6-15 from three-point range. UMHB also out rebounded the Yellow Jackets 52-26 and forced 19 turnovers. HPU shot 36 per cent from the field and 25 per cent from three-point range.

Tilmon Gaddy topped UMHB with 18 points and 12 rebounds. Tim Lytle came off the bench to add 16 points for the Cru on 4-6 shooting from three-point range. David Ray added 12 points and six boards for UMHB. Bryan Blalock led HPU with 12 points and six rebounds. Tom Hermann and Gary Thompson chipped in 11 points apiece and Lee Scott had 10 points before fouling out in the final minutes of the game.

The Cru will wrap up its home stand on Saturday with a 1:00 PM tip-off against Sul Ross State. The UMHB men will then hit the road to take on Schreiner University at 7:30 PM next Thursday in Kerrville.