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ABILENE, Texas –
Jamal Anene's 36 points and 12 rebounds sparked McMurry University to a 87-72 victory over cross-town rival Hardin-Simmons Tuesday night at Kimbrell Arena. The senior post was 12 of 18 from the floor and 12 of 16 from the charity stripe Tuesday posting his career high while leading McMurry to an American Southwest Conference victory.
The home team fought as the Cowboys led by as many as nine points in the first half. Aaron Thornton hit a jumper to make the score 18-9 in favor of HSU. However, McMurry stormed back and trailed just 37-36 at halftime.
In the second half, HSU's Casey Riddle extended the lead to three points on the second half's first possession. However,
Robert Moreno countered with a 3-pointer followed by a successful 3-point play by Anene, which gave McMurry the lead for good with 18:55 remaining.
HSU kept the game relatively close until the closing minutes. Zach Rule hit a jump shot with 5:57 to play to cut McMurry's lead to 69-64. However, McMurry scored 18 of the final 26 points of the contest to move to 5-2 overall and 3-1 in league play.
Jeremie Hart had 19 points and nine boards to help lead McMurry while Moreno's eight assists helped pace a 46 percent shooting effort.
Steven Luckey came off the bench and scored all 12 of his points in the second half. McMurry grabbed 14 steals as a team with Moreno,
Ryan Boyd and Luckey each taking three apiece.
Each team suffered the turnover bug; the Cowboys had 22, which McMurry turned into 23 points. However, HSU had 18 points off 19 McMurry turnovers. McMurry also showed a large advantage in depth over HSU with the home team's reserves outscoring the Cowboy bench 23-1.
Aaron Thornton scored 23 points and had 14 rebounds in the losing effort. Casey Riddle had 17 points and six assists while committing seven turnovers and Carlos Singer had 15 points for HSU. The Cowboys fell to 1-6 overall and 1-4 in ASC competition.
McMurry returns to action in Clarksville, Ark. Friday night where it takes on the University of the Ozarks at 7:30 p.m.
