Clinton, Ms.; — The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor men’s basketball team could not overcome cold second-half shooting and the Cru fell to Hardin-Simmons 71-67 in the semifinals of the American Southwest Conference Championship Tournament Saturday afternoon in Clinton, Mississippi. The loss drops the UMHB men to 22-5 on the year and the Cru loses in the ASC semifinals for the second straight year. Hardin-Simmons improves to 16-11 on the year and the Cowboys will now advance to tomorrow’s ASC Tournament Championship game against Mississippi College.
UMHB led 37-33 at halftime despite the fact that HSU hit 5-9 from three-point range. The Cru would lead by six at 50-44 with 14:12 remaining in the game before the Cowboys chipped away. HSU took its first lead of the second half at 54-53 with 9:46 to go in the game. The Cowboys would push it to six points twice in the final six minutes before Zane Johnston’s three-pointer cut it to 67-65 with 35 seconds to go. Steven Luckey then hit two free-throws to make it a four-point bulge. Kevin Guyden answered with a jumper at the other end to cut it to 69-67. Matt Brackett made one of two free-throws to give HSU a 70-67 lead and following a UMHB miss, Luckey hit one of two free-throws to provide the final margin.
Guyden finished with 22 points to lead the Cru and Neiman Ford added 17 points and seven rebounds before fouling out. Zane Johnston came off the bench to score 11 points for UMHB. Michael Dinkins topped HSU with 22 points and he went 5-7 from three-point range. Zach Pickelman had 13 points and Dan Jean added 10 for the Cowboys. HSU hit 7-13 from beyond the arc in the game and shot 41 per cent from the field overall. UMHB shot just 36 per cent in the second-half and went 6-22 from three-point range in the game.
The Cru will now have to wait for word on a possible at-large bid in the NCAA Division III National Championships. The 59-team field for the tournament will be released tomorrow night. The UMHB men have never qualified for the NCAA Tournament.