JACKSON, Miss. – Hardin-Simmons' men's basketball team had its best overall effort of the season and rolled to an 87-56 win over Belhaven on Saturday afternoon in Jackson, Miss.

The Cowboys controlled the game throughout. Ryan Leiss' 3-pointer with 4:17 to play in the first half gave the Cowboys their biggest lead of the half at 38-29 and the Cowboys led 44-39 at halftime.

HSU exploded out of the halftime locker room, going on a 21-3 run in the first 5:20 of the second half to take a 65-42 lead. BU scored four straight points then HSU scored 10 straight to push the lead to 75-48 with 11:08 to play in the game.

The Cowboy regulars went to the bench and Joe Hoeup, Ryan Chaney, Chase Scott, Caleb Shannon and Maverick Harris finished out the game.    

Dashun Dixon led five Cowboys in double figures with 17 points. Christian O'Neal had 16, Caleb Spoon and Justin Jones had 14 points each and Cameron Barnes added 10. Jones added 12 rebounds for his sixth double-double of the season.

The Cowboys dominated on the glass, winning 54-37 and hit 12 3-pointers in the contest.

De'La Mayers and Josh Gaskin each had 15 points for Belhaven.

The Cowboys are now 8-4 and Belhaven fell to 1-8. The game did not count in the American Southwest Conference standings. HSU will return to ASC play on Thursday against Texas-Dallas.

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