SAN ANTONIO – St. Edward's jumped out to early lead and steadily built on it to defeat St. Mary's University 96-75 Saturday afternoon. The Hilltoppers improve to 25-3 on the season and 19-3 in Lone Star Conference play.
 
SEU started on a 12-2 run but the Rattlers battled back to pull within three, 18-15, with 10:26 remaining. The Hilltoppers closed on 20-5 run to lead by 18 at the break, 38-20.
 
In the first five minutes of the second half SEU pushed their lead to 26, 49-23, and cruised through the next ten minutes to lead by as many as 38, 80-42, with just under six minutes remaining. The Hilltoppers were never threatened as they closed out the game for the win.
 
Six Hilltoppers scored in double figures, led by ASHTON SPEARS' 19 points. LUKE PLUYMEN and LUCAS DORIA added 15 points each with COREY SHERVILL chipping in 11, DORIAN LOPEZ 10 and RYAN GARZA 10. SEU shot 50.8 percent from the floor, 32.1 percent from three-point range. Lopez and Doria led the way on the boards with eight rebounds each while AUGUST HAAS eclipsed 1000 career assists with a team-high six assists.
 
St. Edward's earns a first round bye in the LSC Championship, entering as the #2 seed. They will await their match-up following first round games on Tuesday. SEU will play on Friday at the Comerica Center with game times yet to be determined. Tickets can be purchased at a discounted rate at gohilltoppers.com/tickets.