MARSHALL, Texas- Connecting on 21 three pointers, the East Texas Baptist University men's basketball team cruised pass the University of Mary-Hardin Baylor 106-96 to stay perfect in American Southwest Conference. ETBU made 12 three-pointers in the first half. ETBU is now 3-1 and 2-0 in the ASC.

Leading the offensive barrage was Jordan Gray, who tallied a career-high 25 points and connected on 6-of-11 from beyond the arc and 7-of-13 overall from the field. Robby Dooley continued his solid play with 16 points, five rebounds and five assists. Nathan Fontenot added 15 points, all from the three point line, while Darrice Whitley posted 13 points and Westin Riddick 12 points. Jordan Gosey grabbed nine rebounds. Demarius Cress led UMHB with 25 points.

UMHB jumped out to a 4-0 in the first minute of the contest to start it off. Westin Riddick put ETBU on the board first, splashing home a three pointer off the feed from Dooley to bring the score to 4-3 with 18:32 to play in the half.

Riddick would strike again three minutes later, nailing another shot from distance to give the Tigers a 10-9 lead at the 15:16 mark. Things would really start to heat up for ETBU when Gray entered the ball game. The sophomore nailed his first three point shot to give the Tigers their second lead of the afternoon at 15-14 with 14:16 on the clock. Gray knocked down his second three two minutes later to extend the Tiger lead to four, at 20-16.

Gray continued his assault from beyond the three point line, sinking two more shots to put the Tigers on top by 10 (34-24) with nine minutes to go until halftime. UMHB trimmed the lead down to two, at 40-38 with just under four minutes to play, until yet another three point shot by Fontenot pushed the lead back to five (43-38). ETBU went into the locker room with a 49-44 lead over the Crusaders. The Tigers shot a blistering 12-of-22 from beyond the arc (54.5 percent) and shot 16-of-39 (41.0 percent) from the field in the first 20 minutes. ETBU only converted four field goals inside of the three point line in the first half.

The Tigers opened the second half piling even more points on the board, as Landin Brown and Riddick knocked down back-to-back threes to extend the lead to 55-44 in the first minute of the second half. Two free throws by Alan Wilkinson gave ETBU their largest lead of the game, at 23 (85-62) with nine minutes to play in the ballgame. Despite the Crusaders cutting down the lead to eight in the final minute of the game, the Tigers were able to hold on to defeat UMHB 106-96 in Ornelas Gymnasium.

ETBU will have a week off before heading out to Alpine, Texas, for a rematch against Sul Ross State University on Monday, Dec. 11. The game is set to tip-off at 7:30 p.m.