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Belton, TX – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor men’s basketball team broke open a close game late in the first half and the Cru never looked back on the way to a 78-52 victory over Trinity University Wednesday evening in Belton. The UMHB men are now 1-0 to start the season. The loss drops the Tigers to 0-3 on the season.
UMHB broke the game open with a 13-2 run to build a 27-12 lead with 9:07 left in the first half. The Cru would stretch the lead to as many as 21 points in the first half and held a 41-21 edge at halftime. The Tigers would score first in the second half to cut it to an 18-point lead, but UMHB would use an 11-2 run to take a 27-point lead at 52-25 with 14:47 remaining. The Cru would lead by as many as 31 points late in the second half and the Tigers never got closer than 24 points the rest of the way.
Sterling Phillips led UMHB with a career-high 17 points and he also added four steals. Dean Pele had 15 points and four steals for the Cru and Zane Johnston also reached double figures with 14 points. Greg Wiernas narrowly missed his first career double-double, finishing with 10 rebounds and nine points. Nine different players scored for UMHB and 15 players appeared in the game. Luke Caldarera topped the Tigers with 11 points and he also grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds. Heath Hopson came off the bench to add 10 points for Trinity.
UMHB shot 46 per cent from the field, including 54 per cent in the second half. UMHB also out rebounded the Tigers 42-38 and forced 19 turnovers. Trinity shot just 33 per cent from the field and went 4-25 from three-point range in the game. UMHB hit 36 per cent from beyond the arc and turned the ball over just nine times in the victory.
The Cru will now have 10 days off before returning to action with the American Southwest Conference opener. The UMHB men will travel to Richardson to face defending ASC champion U.T.-Dallas in a 3:30 PM tip-off on November 28th. The Cru men will then face the University of the Ozarks in a 7:30 PM start on Monday, November 30th in Clarksville, Arkansas.