Belton, TX – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor men’s basketball team battled back from a second-half deficit and the Cru iced the game from the free-throw line as UMHB beat Concordia Texas 82-73 in the American Southwest Conference Men’s Basketball Championship Tournament title game Sunday in Belton. The Cru improves to 25-3 on the season and wins its first ASC Championship. Concordia’s season ends with a 19-9 record.

Concordia opened the game with an 8-2 run before UMHB fought back. The Tornados would later lead by five points before settling for a 37-35 halftime lead. The Cru retook the lead at 42-40 on Matt Caskey’s lay-up with 16:53 remaining. UMHB would push the lead to five points before the Tornados chipped away and went up 53-49 with 12:44 to go. After a Ryan Burgart free-throw, Caskey scored four straight points to put UMHB on top 54-53 with 11:24 left and the Cru would not trail again. UMHB stretched the lead to nine points at 73-64 on a David Ray lay-in with 4:12 left in the game. Concordia would pull to within four points at 77-73 with 40 seconds remaining, but UMHB hit 5-8 free-throws and held Concordia scoreless the rest of the way to clinch the victory and the league title.

Matt Caskey led UMHB with 19 points and he also grabbed 10 rebounds for his first double-double of the season. Tilmon Gaddy had 18 points for the Cru and Neiman Ford also had a huge day with 15 points, 14 rebounds and four assists. Michael Moore led the Tornados with 16 points and Reza Farahani added 14 points. Joel McDonald and Valentino Maxwell chipped in 11 points apiece for Concordia. Brad Walker had nine rebounds to lead the Tornados.

UMHB out rebounded Concordia 46-34 and UMHB also shot 46 per cent from the field while holding the Tornados to 34 per cent shooting. Concordia did hit 14 three-pointers and shot 44 per cent from beyond the arc. UMHB hit just 27 per cent from three-point range, while going 27-38 from the free-throw line.

UMHB will now advance to the NCAA Division III National Championships for the second straight year. The Cru will find out its first round opponent, site and game date when the tournament field is announced tomorrow at 11:00 AM Central Time.

Tournament Notes: UMHB’s Tilmon Gaddy was named ASC Tournament Most Valuable Player … He was joined on the All-Tournament Team by teammates Neiman Ford and Matt Caskey, Concordia’s Valentino Maxwell and Michael Moore, Mardochee Jean of Hardin-Simmons University and Howard Payne’s Tom Hermann … Both teams were making their first appearance in the ASC Championship Game … archived video streams of all ASC Men’s Basketball Championship Tournament games are available at http://www.summitticket.com/choose.php?Step=4 …UMHB extended its own school single-season record for victories with 25 … The Cru has now won 27 straight games at the Mayborn Campus Center … UMHB becomes the first ASC school to win men’s basketball and football conference championships in the same school year.