Box Score
BELTON - It was close until the final minutes, but in the end McMurry couldn't pull off the season sweep over nationally-ranked Mary Hardin-Baylor and the visitors fell 70-59. The loss concluded McMurry's season at 12-13 and marks the first time since 1992-1993 that the team has suffered a losing season ending a streak of 15-straight years with a winning record.
Alex Robles and McMurry started out hot with a 17-9 lead over the Crusaders in the first half thanks to three-straight 3-pointers from Robles. However, the Crusaders fought back to take a 31-29 lead at intermission and after a short-lived deficit in the second half, UMHB never trailed passed the 14:21 mark in the second half.
McMurry cut the lead to three points with 2:58 remaining at 59-56; however, the Crusaders turned it on and closed the game with a 11-3 run.
Robles, playing his final game as a senior had 20 points to close his career. He finished the season with 341 points, a 14.2 points per game average and 55 made 3-point field goals.
Senior Chris Gammage was the only other player in double figures for McMurry in the losing effort; he had 10 points and four boards. Emile Brown and Curtis Jones played their final games in a McMurry uniform as well and had seven and two points respectively.
Mary Hardin-Baylor got 13 points apiece from Ryan Burgart and Zane Johnston. The Crusaders were able to shoot 46.9 percent for the game including a 57 percent shooting effort in the second half. McMurry on the other hand, shot just 37 percent for the game.
After a sluggish 1-8 start in American Southwest Conference play, McMurry rebounded its season by winning eight of its final 13 games. However, the hole was too big to dig out of and McMurry narrowly missed getting into the conference tournament. It will be the program's first absence from the tourney since the 2004-05 season.
In 2007-08, McMurry helped Ron Holmes get his 300th win at McMurry Nov. 16 with a win over George Fox University at the Colorado College Tournament. Holmes completed his 18th season with the team Saturday and was also the head coach the last time the team finished under .500 for the year. McMurry posted a 10-17 record in 1992-93.
