Brownwood, TX – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor men’s basketball team almost let a halftime lead slip away but the Cru held on for a 71-68 victory over Howard Payne Thursday night in Brownwood. The UMHB men improve to 19-3 overall and 16-2 in American Southwest Conference play with the win. The victory also clinches the Cru’s first outright ASC West Division championship and guarantees UMHB home-court advantage for the ASC Championship Tournament. The loss drops Howard Payne to 11-11 overall and 9-9 in the ASC on the season.

Howard Payne opened the game with a 10-0 run, but the Cru stormed back to take a 37-30 halftime lead. HPU scored the first six points of the second half to close to within one before UMHB pushed it back to a seven-point lead. The Yellow Jackets once again battled back and took a 66-63 lead with 3:26 left to play. Ryan Burgart hit a free-throw and added a lay-up to tie the game at 66. Another Burgart free-throw gave the Cru a 67-66 edge and David Ray added a lay-up to make it 69-66 Cru. Brock Woods hit a pair of free-throws to pull HPU to within 69-68, but Neiman Ford buried a pair of clutch free-throws with 17 seconds left to provide the final margin. HPU missed a three-pointer and then turned the ball over on its final possession of the game.

UMHB shot 52 per cent from the field in the first half and 67 per cent from three-point range. HPU hit 52 per cent from the field in the second half, but went just 5-18 from beyond the arc while the Cru hit 7-13 treys.

Lytle led UMHB with 16 points off the bench and he hit 4-7 from three-point range. David Ray added 14 points and 10 rebounds and Tilmon Gaddy had 10 points and 10 boards. Ryan Burgart came off the bench to added 13 points and eight rebounds for UMHB. Lee Scott topped HPU with 21 points, Tom Hermann added 16 and Brock Woods had 13 points for the Yellow Jackets.

The Cru will continue its road trip with a 3:00 PM tip-off at Sul Ross State Saturday in Alpine. The UMHB men will then return home to close out the regular season with home games against Hardin-Simmons and McMurry University next week.