SEGUIN, Texas â€" Texas Lutheran squandered a 15-point halftime lead and lost for the first time in four games with a 55-50 non-conference loss Wednesday to Mary Hardin-Baylor.
 
In TLU's Memorial Gymnasium, UMHB (6-3) won for the fourth straight game by out-scoring the Bulldogs 39-19 in the second half.
 
TLU (5-6) had won five of its last six games and was coming off a 23-point win Monday at American Southwest Conference preseason favorite Hardin-Simmons. HSU was 9-0 before its loss to TLU.
 
UMHB, also out of the ASC, trailed by as many as 19 in the first half against the Bulldogs.
 
The Cru did not take a lead until 4:35 remained in the game. UMHB's largest lead was the final score.
 
UMHB's Layton Zinsmeister nailed a three-pointer with the shot clock winding down in the final minute. The three gave the Cru a four-point lead with 21 seconds to play.
 
After a Sterling Holmes (San Antonio/Antonian/Richland College) lay-up pulled TLU within two with 13 seconds to play, TLU fouled and received a missed UMHB free throw.
 
But the Bulldogs turned the ball over twice in the closing seconds, and UMHB made two more free throws to close out the game.
 
Off the bench, Daniel Mills led UMHB with 13 points. He added eight rebounds and two steals. Zinsmeister chipped in 11 points and five rebounds.
 
Jordan Kouremetis (San Antonio/O'Connor) led TLU with 15. Kouremetis scored all 15 from the three-point line, where he was 5-for-12.
 
TLU senior Donte McGee (Victoria/Memorial/Texas A&M-Kingsville) grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds and scored 11. Five of his rebounds were on the offensive end.
 
UMHB used a zone defense in the second half that forced TLU to shoot from distance. The Bulldogs were 3-for-16 from the three-point line in the second half.
 
UMHB out-rebounded TLU 48-34 and held an 18-9 edge on the offensive glass.
 
The Cru turned the ball over 14 times in the first half but only six times in the second.
 
After UMHB shot 25 percent from the field in the first half, TLU shot 25.9 percent in the second.
 
The game with UMHB was TLU's final non-conference game of the season. UMHB and TLU played together in the American Southwest Conference from 2000 to 2013.
 
TLU now plays in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference. The Bulldogs open up SCAC play on Saturday, Jan. 3 with a road game at Southwestern.
 
Tip-off is set for 4 p.m. at Southwestern's Robertson Center.