Austin, TX— The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor men's basketball team overcame a sluggish first-half and dominated the rest of the way in an 82-61 victory over Concordia-Chicago Friday afternoon in Austin. The 11th-ranked Cru improves to 10-0 on the season with the victory. The loss drops Concordia-Chicago to 2-9 on the season. The game closed out UMHB's play at the Concordia Christmas Tournament and also marks the final non-conference game of the year for the Cru.
Concordia used a 7-0 run to take an 11-point lead at 21-10 midway through the first half. The Cru would again trail by 11 at 27-16 with 6:06 left in the first half. UMHB answered with a 10-0 run to close to within one point and the Cru would then take a 33-32 lead into halftime. UMHB would take the lead to double figures at 50-40 with 13:12 remaining and the Cru's 21-5 run would push the lead to 21 points with 7:48 left to play. The lead would grow to as many as 26 points as UMHB cruised to the win.
Dorian Purnell led UMHB with 14 points and eight rebounds and he was 7-10 from the field. Brian Todd and Sterling Phillips added 13 points apiece and Marlon Miller also reached double figures with 10 for the Cru. Eleven different players scored for UMHB in the victory.
Issa Avery led Concordia-Chicago with a game-high 18 points. Charles Gordon added 15 points and Justin Hineman chipped in with 11.
UMHB shot 64 percent from the field in the second half and hit 53 percent for the game. The Cru forced 22 turnovers and held Concordia-Chicago to 33 percent shooting, including just 2-14 from three-point range.
The Cru will return to action with a pair of American Southwest Conference road games next week. UMHB will play a 7:30 PM tip-off at University of the Ozarks next Thursday before facing U.T.-Dallas in a 3:00 PM start next Saturday.