ABILENE, TX – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor men’s basketball team ratcheted up the defense in the second half as the Cru erased an early double digit deficit on the way to a 77-67 victory over Hardin-Simmons Thursday night in Abilene. UMHB improves to 6-3 overall and 3-0 in American Southwest Conference play with the win. The loss drops the Cowboys to 8-4 overall and 3-2 in the ASC on the year.
After trailing by seven points at the break, UMHB opened the second half with a 14-5 run and Byrale Carter gave the Cru its first lead of the game with a three-pointer with 13:22 left to play. The two teams traded scores from there before UMHB went on a 14-2 run to open up a 12-point lead. The Cru defense converted turnovers into points on three straight HSU possessions to key that stretch. Anthony Hunter scored seven straight points to pull the Cowboys back to within four, but UMHB responded with a 7-1 spurt and Aedan Welch’s three-pointer pushed the lead back to ten points with 2:01 left to play. Hardin-Simmons would not get closer than nine points the rest of the way.
Hardin-Simmons opened the game with an 8-0 run before Ty Prince finally put UMHB on the board with a layup 2:40 into the contest. HSU would hit four of its first six shots from three-point range in the early going. The Cowboys made it double digits at 15-5 with another 7-0 run and led by as many as 12 points before the Cru chipped away. UMHB pulled to within four points at 23-19, but Hardin-Simmons led 37-30 at halftime. HSU was 5-10 from beyond the arc in the opening half.
Byrale Carter led the Cru with 19 points and 10 rebounds, posting a double-double in his first game since suffering a wrist injury in November of 2019. Welch hit 4-5 three-pointers and finished with 16 points, Carson Hammond finished with 14, Josiah Johnson scored 13 and Ty Prince added 10 in his first appearance of the season. UMHB shot 57 percent from the field in the second half as a team and finished at 48 percent for the game. The Cru hit 10-26 three-pointers and was 15-21 from the line.
Aidan Walsh led the Cowboys with 16 points, Steven Quinn had 11 points and nine rebounds and Hunter and Chase Cobb finished with 10 points apiece. HSU was just 4-12 on three-pointers in the second half and shot 41 percent from long-range on the night. Hardin-Simmons shot 37 percent overall and was just 10-20 from the free-throw line.
The Cru will close out this road trip to Abilene with a 3 pm start at McMurry University on Saturday. The UMHB men will then return home to host the same two teams next week at the Mayborn Campus Center.
