BELTON, Texas – Mary Hardin-Baylor ended McMurry's eight-game winning streak Thursday night as the Cru topped McMurry, 73-65, in an American Southwest Conference West Division game at UMHB's Mayborn Campus Center. 

The loss drops McMurry to 12-5 overall and 11-2 in conference play.  McMurry still holds a three-game advantage for first place in the ASC West standings.  McMurry will look to rebound when they return to action at 3 p.m. on Saturday as they take on Concordia Texas to complete the Central Texas road swing. 
For UMHB, the win improves the defending ASC champions to 10-7 and 8-5.  The Cru remain in second place in the ASC West standings. 

McMurry couldn't quite come back from a late second-half deficit this time.  UMHB held a 65-58 lead with three minutes to go in regulation but despite a valiant late charge, McMurry didn't get closer than four points the rest of the way .

Both teams hovered around each other the entire first half as they traded the lead back and forth.  McMurry grew its lead to a first-half high six points (14-8) with 14:45 remaining in the frame, but the Cru quickly disposed of their deficit and tied the game at 16 at the 12 minute mark. 

UMHB held a 29-27 advantage with two minutes left until the break before McMurry closed the first half on a 5-2 run to take a slight 32-31 lead into halftime. 

Early in the second half, McMurry bumped its lead back to six again as they held a 41-35 advantage at the 14:45 mark.  The resilient Cru, though, responded quickly to make sure the game stayed within their reach.  UMHB trailed 45-42 at the 12:30 mark before Tilmon Gaddy single handedly mounted a 7-0 run over the next two minutes to give the Cru a four-point advantage (49-45) with 10:30 remaining in regulation.  McMurry center Brett Johnson, a senior from Alachua, Florida, ended UMHB's scoring run with a layup near the 10-minute mark. 

But UMHB's offense continued to click as the Cru built a game-high eight-point advantage (55-47) with 6:45 remaining in regulation.  McMurry remained close the rest of the way but could never get over the edge as UMHB held on to take the victory. 

McMurry guard Jonathan Walker, a senior from Dallas, scored a game-high 19 points on 7 of 13 shooting from the floor.