Belton, Texas-Mary Hardin-Baylor built a 44-26 halftime lead en route to a 95-77 win over the Eagles in American Southwest Conference play Saturday.

Mary Hardin-Baylor (8-5, 6-4 ASC) shot nearly 50 percent from the field in the first half and hit 9-of-11 from the free throw line to hold a sizable first half advantage. The Crusaders owned a nine-point advantage after Ted Beard IV drilled a three-pointer with less than seven minutes in the first half. Mary Hardin-Baylor then reeled off a 17-5 run to close out the first half. 
    
Ozarks (4-8, 2-7 ASC) would match the Crusaders in points in the second half (51), but built itself into too big of a hole to recover. Mary Hardin-Baylor owned an 18 point advantage at the 13:46 mark of the second half before Ozarks trimmed the deficit to 60-47 on Ricky Allen's three-pointer. Beard's shot from long-distance with 7:50 remaining in the game made it 69-58. The Eagles remained close over the next three minutes, but Mary Hardin-Baylor finished out the final five minutes of the game with a 18-12 run.

Beard IV posted 21 points in the game. Kelby Robinson and Allen had 13 and 12 points, respectively.

Ozarks will host three straight conference games beginning with Louisiana College January 16.