MARSHALL, Texas – The McMurry men's basketball team completed the clean sweep of the East Texas road swing as McMurry came back in the second half to knock off East Texas Baptist, 72-66, in an American Southwest Conference crossover game Saturday afternoon at Ornelas Gymnasium. 

McMurry is now riding a four-game conference-winning streak (all of which were against ASC East opponents) as they are in sole possession of first place in the West Division with an 8-4 overall mark and 7-1 record in conference play.  McMurry returns to ASC West play on Thursday, Jan. 15, when they host Texas Lutheran.  Tip time is slated for 7:30 p.m. from Kimbrell Arena. 

McMurry trailed by two (50-48) with nine minutes remaining in regulation before mounting a 13-0 run over the next five and a half minutes to take a 61-50 lead at the 4:30 mark.  The resilient Tigers responded though and trailed by only four (65-61) with one minute and thirty seconds to go. 

But clutch free-throw shooting down the stretch by McMurry preserved the victory for them as Dewayne Hall went 4 for 4 from the charity stripe in the last 90 seconds of the game and Richard Jones hit 1 of 2 for McMurry's cause. 

McMurry had to comeback again in the second half as they trailed by seven points at halftime.  McMurry started the first seven minutes of the second half on a 17-10 run to tie the game at 42, which set the tone for McMurry's strong second-half finish.  

In the first half, East Texas Baptist started the first three minutes of the game on a 7-0 run but McMurry responded with a 17-7 run over the next seven minutes to hold a 17-14 advantage midway through the first half. 

The Tigers responded by mounting a 13-0 run over the next six minutes to take a 10-point lead, 27-17, with four minutes to go until the break.  From there, McMurry was able to chip three points off its deficit before halftime as ETBU took a 32-25 advantage into the intermission. 

The Tigers crashed the boards with tenacity in the first half as they outrebounded McMurry 22-13 in the frame, including an 11-7 advantage for ETBU in offensive rebounds.  McMurry also struggled shooting the ball in the first half as they only mustered a 32 percent clip (9 of 28) from the floor compared to ETBU's 44 percent (12 of 27) mark in the frame. 

Senior sharpshooter Dewayne Hall finished with a game-high 22 points to lead McMurry to the victory.