Box Score
ABILENE, Texas – McMurry University men's basketball dropped its second-straight game, falling at crosstown rival Hardin-Simmons University, 101-95, in the final regular season meeting in the longtime series.

McMurry, the third place team in the American Southwest Conference West Division, fell to 13-6 overall and 9-6 in the ASC. HSU, the No. 2 team in the ASC West, improved to 15-4 and 12-3 in the ASC.

The first half had seven ties and eight lead changes, foreshadowing the type of game ahead. McMurry's largest lead was six points in the first half at 11-5, while HSU held an eight point bulge, 25-17.

McM would eventually take a 44-40 margin into the halftime locker room.

McMurry would parlay its halftime lead into a 47-40 advantage on a layup by Alfred Perez early in the second period.  Perez - starting in place of ASC pre-season Player of the Year Steven Jones, who took a hard spill in Saturday's loss to Texas Lutheran and hit his head – finished the game with 22 points. Perez hit 8-of-10 from the floor and was 6-of-6 from the free throw line, while also grabbing six boards.

The two teams kept going at each other with the fervor  that typified the rivalry over the years. When all was said-and-done, there were 13 ties and 17 lead changes in the game.

With the game tied at 75-75 with 5:22 left to play, ASC leading scorer Matt Addison went to work for the Cowboys. Addison scored 16 of his game-high 32 points down the stretch as HSU never trailed again.

McM guard Bryce Hill notched his fifth 20-point game of the year by tallying 24 points. Hill also grabbed five rebounds.

Bryant Taylor booked 11 points, while Anthony Johnson and Connor Robinson each added 10 to complete the quintet of War Hawks in double figures.

Dominick Walker grabbed a game-high 19 rebounds. He duplicated his own effort the last time these two teams met when he also snared 19 boards back on December 19.

Point guard Jaden Isler gave off a game-leading nine assists to go along with nine points.

“We knew it was going to be that type of game,” McM head coach J.D. Isler said. “Two good teams and there was going to be runs on both sides. We weathered most of them.

“I told our guys there's really nothing you can do. We played good; we played hard. They got a few breaks and if had got the breaks we might have won the battle.”