Box Score

ABILENE, Texas – McMurry held off a late rally in the second half by East Texas Baptist and defeated the Tigers 71-64 at Kimbrell Arena Saturday afternoon. Jeremie Hart scored 18 and Jamal Anene added  17 to help McMurry split the American Southwest Conference homestand after Thursday's loss to LeTourneau.

McMurry led by 20 points with 6:33 left to play, but the Tigers did not back down. However, there was not enough time on the clock for ETBU to complete the comeback, but the Tigers did outscore McMurry 21-7 in the final 5:55 of the game.

Hart finished 9 of 17 from the field while Anene was 8 of 12. As a team, McMurry shot 40 percent for the contest and 46 percent in the second half. The McMurry defense held the Tigers to a season-low 64 points and the Tigers shot just 39 percent for the game.

ETBU's Deba Egharevba scored 20 points and James Morman added 16 points and 13 rebounds in the loss. The Tigers turned the ball over 21 times and McMurry converted those miscues into 27 points.

In the first half, ETBU knotted the score at 22 with 2:32 left, but McMurry closed the half with a 10-4 run to take a 32-26 lead before halftime. Out of the gate in the second half, McMurry outscored the Tigers 27-13 in the first 11:33 of the half to build the 20-point lead.

Free-throw shooting helped ETBU climb back into the game in the second half. After hitting 3 of 5 shots from the charity stripe in the first half, the Tigers hit 13 of 18 attempts in the second half. McMurry on the other hand, finished 12 of 24 from the free-throw line.

McMurry improved to 8-4 overall and 6-2 in ASC play while ETBU fell to 5-7 overall and evened its record at 4-4 in league competition.

McMurry resumes play Thursday in Seguin at 7:30 p.m. against Texas Lutheran at it begins ASC West Division competition for the remainder of the season.