Austin, Texas – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor men's basketball team rallied late but could not claw all the way back as the Cru dropped a 97-92 decision to Concordia Texas Saturday in Austin. UMHB falls to 7-14 overall and 3-8 in American Southwest Conference play with the loss. The Cru is also one game behind Howard Payne for fourth place in the ASC West Division. The top four teams in each division will advance to the ASC Championship Tournament. The Tornados improve to 11-9 overall and 5-5 in ASC play with the victory.

The two teams traded leads early and were tied at 11 4:30 into the first half before Concordia exploded. The Tornados raced out to an 18-point lead at 37-19 with 7:42 left in the first half. UMHB battled back to within four points before CTX pushed it back to 52-44 at halftime. The Cru still trailed 87-77 with 5:02 remaining, but used a 13-4 run to cut it to 91-90 on a Daniel Mills lay-up with 1:19 left to play. Rashad Coleman hit two free throws on the next possession to give the Tornados a 93-90 edge and UMHB missed its final three shots from the field. Joe Neal scored four straight points for Concordia to make it 97-90 and Avery Polchinski hit two free-throws with one second left to cut it to the final margin.

Demarius Cress poured in a career-high 28 points to lead the Cru offense. Russell Green had 20 points, Mills and Sidney Deloach had 14 points apiece and Shon Lewis added 11 more. Deloach also had a team-best seven rebounds. The Cru shot 44 percent from the field but only hit 2-14 from three-point range. UMHB went 44-53 from the free-throw line as Concordia was whistled for 36 fouls in the contest.

Josh Samuels topped CTX with 19 points and Donovan Ford had 16. Dervyn Barnes had 15 points and 13 rebounds and three other Tornados also scored in double figures. Concordia shot 54 percent from the field in the first half and hit 48 percent for the game. The Tornados were 11-28 from three-point range and also out rebounded UMHB 38-33 in the game.

The Cru men will be back on the road for the final two road games of the regular season next week. UMHB will take on ASC West Division leader Sul Ross State in a 7:30 PM tip on Thursday before closing out the week with a 3:00 PM start at Howard Payne next Saturday.