Box Score
It may have taken two months for the McMurry men's basketball team to wake up, but it appears that it is no longer sleeping. The No. 4-ranked Mary Hardin-Baylor Crusaders fell to McMurry Saturday at Kimbrell Arena 79-76 in a foul-happy game that was decided by key buckets from Robert Moreno and Casey Jones as well as free throws.
Moreno hit a key 3-pointer to knot the score at 69 with 2:25 left, then hit another jumper with 35 seconds left to help McMurry go up three points at 76-73 and hit the final free throw with 1.7 seconds left to help seal the game.
The game was neck-and-neck from the beginning. Dewayne Hall tied the score with a 3-pointer at 27-all. Then after one free throw from UMHB's Matt Dickey, Hall hit another trey to put McMurry up two points. Later, the Crusaders pulled ahead 32-30, but McMurry countered with a 6-0 run to end the half thanks to two buckets from Emile Brown and one from Jones.
McMurry never led by more than five points in the second half and UMHB never led by more than three points. After Moreno's 3-pointer tied the score at 69, Jones made one of two free throws, the Moreno hit both his attempts with 1:36 left to help McMurry go up 72-69.
The Cruaders' Tilmon Gaddy who led all scores with 19 points canned two free throws to cut the deficit to one point. However, Jones hit a 17-footer to put McMurry up three points before UMHB countered with two free throws by Neiman Ford with 51 seconds remaining.
Then with 35 seconds remaining, McMurry was looking to eat some clock and Moreno drove the lane expecting to kick a pass out after the defense collapsed. Only the defense didn't collapse and Moreno took advantage by hitting the floating jumper just inside the free-throw line to put McMurry up 76-73.
UMHB's Jason Wagner turned the ball over and then Alex Robles hit two more free throws that seemed to seal the game at 78-73. However, Ford hit a 3-pointer with three seconds left to bring the score to 76-78.
With a quick foul, Moreno hit one of two attempts with 1.7 seconds left and Matt Dickey's full-court 3-point attempt was no good.
Moreno scored a season-high 14 points and led the team with eight rebounds and two steals, but Jones led McMurry with 17. The junior from Alvin was 6 of 13 from the floor, hit both of his 3-point attempts and was 3 of 4 from the free-throw line. Hall also had 14 off the bench including the two big shots in the first half.
McMurry had a season-low eight turnovers in the contest and forced the Crusaders into 18. Wagner had 15 points, David Ray recorded a double-double with 13 points & 12 boards while Ford finished with 10 points in the loss.
Mary Hardin-Baylor out-shot McMurry 41 percent to 36 percent. The Crusaders were better from 3-point land and the free-throw line, but McMurry's hustle and ball control gave it the win.
There were 35 fouls called in the second half. UMHB converted on 19 of 29 free throws in the second period while McMurry was 17 of 28 in the closing half. The Crusaders finished at 26 of 43 from the line for 60.5 percent while McMurry was slightly worse at 20 of 34 for 58.8 percent.
With 11 games left to play, McMurry is still very much in the hunt for an ASC Tournament appearance. The win moves the team to 6-8 overall and 3-7 in conference play while the No. 4Crusaders fell to 11-3 overall and 8-2 in league play.
McMurry will play at Hardin-Simmons Monday just six miles across town and then leaves Abilene for its next four conference games.
Monday the cross-town rivals will square off at 7:30 p.m. and McMurry will look to avenge an earlier loss to HSU on Dec. 8. The two schools and the Kiwanis Club of Abilene have teamed up to bring the 11th annual Kiwanis Club Shootout, which benefits the Children's Miracle Network..
