BELTON, Texas — After four straight last-second losses, the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor men’s basketball team took care of business early on Saturday, as the Cru rolled to a 103-69 victory over Howard Payne at the Mayborn Campus Center. UMHB improves to 13-8 overall and 5-7 in American Southwest Conference play with the victory. The loss drops the Yellow Jackets to 1-20 overall and 0-12 in ASC play.
The Cru had a one-point lead at 22-21 with 11:42 left in the first half, but closed the period with a 22-10 run to grab a 44-31 halftime lead. UMHB shot 44 percent from the field in the opening half and held HPU to 29 percent shooting. The Cru came out red-hot in the second half and never let the Yellow Jackets get back into the contest. UMHB shot 56 percent from the field as a team and again held HPU to under 30 percent. The Cru’s smallest lead of the second half was 13 points.
Sam Moore led the way for UMHB with a triple-double, scoring 30 points, grabbing 11 rebounds and adding 11 assists. Moore is just the second ASC player to record a triple-double this season, joining LeTourneau’s Nate West. Logan Hicks scored 20 points for the Cru, Joseph Mitchell had 14 off the bench and Casey Armour scored 10 points. Devyn Brewton had 10 rebounds. UMHB shot 50 percent from the field for the game and out rebounded Howard Payne 57-49 on the day. The Cru had lost its previous four games by a combined total of 11 points with two of those losses coming in overtime.
Tyrell Thompson and Jase Miguez led the Yellow Jackets with 16 points apiece. HPU shot just 29 percent as a team in the game and went 9-36 from beyond the arc in the loss.
The game closed out the regular season home schedule for the UMHB men. The Cru will now hit the road for a pair of ASC crossover games next week. UMHB will take on East Texas Baptist Thursday in Marshall before facing LeTourneau University Saturday in Longview.
RELATED: Holt sets career mark in Cru win