Clarksville, Ark.-A late scoring drought in the first half allowed Mary Hardin-Baylor to build a 37-20 halftime lead en route to a 83-69 win over the Eagles in Monday's American Southwest Conference game Monday in Belton, Texas.
Ozarks (2-4, 0-2) went scoreless in the final six-and-half minutes of the first half despite being within single digits for the first 15 minutes of the game. A Tony Daniels three-pointer with 7:58 left in the half put Ozarks within 18-16. Chris Williams hit a pair of free throws at the 6:55 mark to make it 23-20, but Mary Hardin-Baylor (1-3, 1-1) went on a 12-0 run to end the half. The Eagles went just 6-of-24 (25.0%) from the floor in the first half while the Crusaders hit nearly 52 percent of their shots.
Trailing 55-32 in the second half, Ozarks cut it to 55-39 at the 12:27 mark on a Jerard McGinty three-pointer. After battling back-and-forth for the next ten minutes, Colby Woolverton nailed a three with 2:17 remaining to narrow the gap to 77-64. But it was a little too late as the Crusaders had the game in hand behind a 56-28 rebound advantage.
Jeremy Clark had a team-high 22 points. Andre Williams added 11 points.
Ozarks will host Howard Payne this Thursday at 7:30 p.m. in ASC play. The game can be heard on the web at www.kxio.nu.
Topics: Athletics