ABILENE, Texas – Leading wire-to-wire, East Texas Baptist University opened up American Southwest Conference play in exciting fashion over McMurry University, 79-68. ETBU is now 4-1 on the year and 1-0 in the ASC.
 
"I am super proud of our team as this is a tough place to play. To go in there and get the lead, execute our game plan perfectly, and then come out in the second half and won the game, I am really proud of them. I told them you win in conference on the road with your defense and that's what we did tonight," said head coach Chris Lovell.
 
Four players scored in double figures as Darry Moore had a double-double with 21 points and 10 rebounds. Aaron Gregg followed with 15 points, six assists, and five rebounds with three steals while Kevin Charles added 15 points and seven rebounds. Ryan Elzy finished with 10 points going 5-of-7 from the floor. McMurry's CJ LeBlanc and Elias Garcia both had 16 points.
 
Finishing shooting 53 percent, ETBU made 62 percent of their shots in the first half but only shot 16 percent from the arc. They did go 9-for-11 at the stripe (81 percent) and scored 58 points in the pain. McMurry did shoot 42 percent overall and 40 percent from the three-point line making 69 percent from the line. McMurry did out rebound ETBU, 35-33, but ETBU forced 17 turnovers.
 
Elzy laid in a shot off the back board just 12 seconds into the game for the first and only lead that ETBU needed in the game. A layup by Charles and a dunk by Moore made it 6-0 as ETBU was off and running. Moore had a layup at the 15:06 mark for a seven point lead, 14-7, but McMurry came back and tied the game at 14 with 13:23 to go. ETBU responded with a 7-0 run to go up, 21-14, just two minutes later. The lead was cut down to four, 23-19, with 10:28 left, as ETBU answered on a 11-0 run for a 15-point lead, 34-19. Jayden Williams made the layup for the large lead at 6:23 and had five points in the run. ETBU kept it at a double-digit lead the rest of the way as Jaden Conner had a fast break layup to end the half for a 16-point lead, 47-31, at the half.
 
McMurry cut the lead to 10, 49-39, just three minutes into the second half. ETBU put the lead back to 16 points, 60-44, with an 11-5 run by the 13:23 mark on a Moore layup. Aaron Gregg then hit a three-pointer with 12:51 left for a 17-point lead, 63-46. The lead remained at 17 points, 69-52, on another Gregg shot with 7:44 to play. In the next five minutes, McMurry cut ETBU's lead to seven, 75-68, on a 16-6 run with 2:00 left in the game. That is as close as they came as ETBU went 4-of-4 at the line in the final minute for the 79-68 win.
 
ETBU travels to the other side of Abilene to take on Hardin-Simmons University on Saturday at 3:00 p.m.