ABILENE, Texas – McMurry University men's basketball could not hold off a second-half surge by the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, suffering a 96-84 loss at Kimbrell Arena.
 
By defeating the War Hawks (9-15, 4-11 ASC), the Crusaders (16-8, 9-6 ASC) clinched the No. 3-seed from the American Southwest Conference West Division for the ASC Championship Tournament.
 
But the McMurry team had other ideas. Out of the gate, the Cru grabbed a 13-6 advantage by the 15:29 mark of the first half. That spurred a mini-run by the War Hawks as they overtook UMHB on a trey by Darius Watts at the 10:45 juncture.
 
Down by one (17-16) at the 10-minute mark, McMurry would outscore the Cru, 21-9, over the next five minutes to post its largest lead, 11 points (37-26). McM would carry a 47-41 margin into the halftime locker room.
 
McMurry was clinging to its small upper-hand – 54-52 – after a pair of Zacc Carter free throws with 16:21 left to play.  Unfortunately for the hosts, a scoring drought ensued for the War Hawks as they went scoreless for nearly four minutes, allowing the UMHB to forge out to a 15-point lead (69-54). The Cru's biggest advantage was 17 points with 9:11 remaining in the game.
 
UMHB held a double-digit margin for the bulk of the second half. McMurry made one last run at the Cru in the waning minutes. Down by 13 with 5:04 on the clock, McM whittled the deficit of six points – 88-82 – when Shakur Smith buried a long-distance shot with 2:29 showing. But the War Hawks could get no closer in the final minutes.
 
Senior Nate Estrada led the War Hawks with 22 points. Estrada went 8-for-14 from the floor, including a pair of threes, and was 4-for-4 from the free throw line in his 34 minutes on the floor. It was his sixth game with 20-plus points this season, as well.
 
Carter, a freshman, finished the night with 13 points, buoyed by a 9-for-9 effort from the charity stripe. Carter also had a game-best eight rebounds in just his second start for head coach Zach Pickelman.
 
Watts came off of the War Hawks' bench and also delivered 13 points. Watts was 4-for-7 shooting, 4-of-5 from beyond the arc.
 
Aaron Gettys connected on 4-of-8 from the field, tallying 10 points for the game.  Gettys also had five rebounds and two steals before fouling out.
 
McMurry will close out the 2016-17 season on Saturday afternoon by hosting Concordia University-Texas. Tipoff is at 3 p.m.