ABILENE- The McMurry men's basketball team hosted Southwestern in a SCAC match-up in the finale of a men's and women's double header at Kimbrell Arena on Sunday afternoon. 

The early stages of the game saw a lot of back-and-forth between the two squads. At the first media timeout, The Pirates led by a score of 9-7 as both teams were playing with intensity. At the 14:22 mark, TJ Hilliard was able to score and eclipse the 1,000 point mark. 

We continued to see a tight game where both teams were playing really similar basketball. We were in a 20-20 deadlock at the 7 minute mark of the first half. 

The game stayed close the whole way through the first half. We got some excitement as we had numerous stoppages for replay's and a technical foul on Southwestern late in the first half, leading to a pair of free throws from Matt Pena. The Pirates were able to hold off the War Hawks for the first half as it seemed like it was a 1-2 point game throughout the entire half, with Southwestern leading 35-33 as the two teams went into the locker room at the break.

McMurry was able to use their momentum at the start of the second half to take the lead around the 15 minute mark. The War Hawks built up a 5 point lead at 51-46 before the Pirates hit a 3 pointer to cut it back down to 2 at 51-49 at the 12:49 mark. 

At the under 12 media timeout, Southwestern had regained the lead at 52-51 with 11:23 left to play in the contest. McMurry picked up the intensity on the defensive end as they put a run together to take a 57-52 lead into the under 8 media timeout. 

McMurry would continue to hold their lead as they looked to close the game out down the stretch. They led 64-62 going into our final media timeout at 3:51. We ended up in a 64-64 deadlock with just 2:52 left to play before TJ Hilliard got fouled and hit a big free throw to give McMurry a one point lead. We took a tie game into the final minute before the Pirates hit a 3 with just 42 seconds left. Matt Pena hit a couple big free throws to make it a 1 point game with 11 seconds left before the War Hawk defense got a steal and TJ Hilliard drew a foul. The senior hit both free throws to give McMurry a one point lead before a Southwestern timeout with 6 seconds left. McMurry was able to hold the lead and secure the victory, 72-71. 

McMurry was led by Jalen Cherry & TJ Hilliard. 

This concludes the War Hawks season, as we congratulate them on a hard-fought year where they proved numerous times that they don't quit. We are proud of them for the year they had and their ability to battle in games and overcome adversity.