RICHARDSON, Texas  — Hardin-Simmons' men's basketball team advanced to the American Southwest Conference Championship Tournament semifinals with an 88-74 win over Sul Ross State on Friday afternoon at the UTD Activities Center.

The Cowboys never trailed in the game and led by as many as 21 points. HSU opened the game on an 18-7 run. Titus Mims had eight points and Derrick Jefferson had seven points in the opening surge. The Cowboys led 46-35 at halftime.

HSU played well the first eight minutes of the second half and pushed the lead out to 64-43, but the Lobos had an answer with a 28-10 run to cut the Cowboy lead to 74-71 with 2:28 to play.

The Cowboys then scored the next nine points to secure the win.

Jefferson led the Cowboys with 24 points and 10 rebounds and Mims added 22. Mawen Maywin set a career-high with 15 points and added five of the Cowboys nine blocked shots. John Barnes had 10 points and tied an HSU non-scholarship era record with 12 assists.

Percy Settle had 23 points for the Lobos and Mychal Pinson added 19 points.

HSU is now 18-8 on the year. The Lobos closed the year with an 11-15 mark. HSU will play Louisiana College at 1 p.m. on Saturday in the semifinals. The sixth-seeded Wildcats upset No. 3 Mary Hardin-Baylor 81-71.

HSU is playing in the ASC semifinals for the fourth straight year.

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