Boxscore

ABILENE, Texas — Hardin-Simmons' men's basketball team that has seven freshmen among its 11-man roster continues to show signs of improvement, but once again the Cowboys came up just short in a 79-75 loss to Texas-Tyler in American Southwest Conference action at the Mabee Complex in Abilene on Thursday night.

For the third straight game, the Cowboys came slow out of the gate. HSU trailed 22-4 in the early going, and had to battle its way back. The Cowboys did cut the deficit to 35-29 on a 3-point play by Carlos Singer with 1:30 to play in the half. The points capped a 15-point first half for the Cowboys' lone senior.

UTT led 46-37 with 15:14 to play and the Cowboys scored five straight points on a layup by Aaron Thornton and a 3-pointer by freshman John Derr, but the Patriots came right back with nine straight points over the next 1:45 to make it a 55-42.

Once again the Cowboys battled back and Thornton's jumper with 4:19 to play made it 66-63, the closest the Cowboys had been to that point. HSU was able to bring it to 77-75 with :05 to play on a Casey Riddle 3-pointer, but DeJon John hit both free throws to give UTT the 79-75 win.

Singer led the Cowboys with 22 points and Riddle had 18 points and six assists (all of the assists and all but three of his points came in the second half). Sophomore Aaron Thornton had 15 points and 10 rebounds for his second straight double-double.

Michael Johnson had 18 points to pace UTT and Dexter McMarion and Hakeem Kareem each had 15 as the Patriots had a huge size advantage across the board.

HSU is now 0-5 on the year and 0-3 in ASC play. The Patriots are now 6-1 on the year with a 3-0 mark in league play. HSU will take this week off for finals and will play at Ozarks on Dec. 12.

--- HSU ---