CLINTON, MS - Mary Hardin-Baylor (22-4, 17-4 ASC) senior guard Kevin Guyden scored 39 points to lead the Crusaders past a determined Louisiana College (8-17, 8-12 ASC) team by a 96-86 score in the first game of the American Southwest Conference Championship Tournament.
Guyden hit on 13-26 shot attempts for the Crusaders, who entered the game ranked #25 in the latest D3hoops.com Top 25 poll, but was not the game's high scorer. Wildcat forward Josh Johnson scored a tournament record 42 points in the loss as the two players went back and forth the entire game.
LC actually took a 53-46 lead into halftime hitting ten of 19 three point attempts. In the second half UMHB held the Wildcats to just 2-16 from long distance as the Crusaders pulled away for the win.
In addition to Guyden, Neiman Ford also turned in a great effort finishing with 23 points as the tandem combined to score 62 of the Crusaders' 96 points. Connor Kuykendall added ten points.
For LC, Johnson was good on 17-27 shot attempts including 5-12 three pointers. Morey Skluzuacek and Kase Gonzalez scored eleven points and ten points, respectively.
UMHB hit 14-28 shots in the first half and were 16-28 in the deciding second half. The Crusaders also dominated the boards outrebounding the Wildcats 42-25 which resulted in 15 second chance points for UMHB and just four for LC.
The Crusaders entered the game as the ASC West Division #1 seed and advance to face the winner of the LeTourneau (East #2) vs Hardin-Simmons (West #3) game.
