AUSTIN, Texas – CONOR MCMANUS scored a career-high 21 points, and the St. Edward's Hilltoppers men's basketball team buried the Arkansas Fort Smith Lions with a barrage of 3-pointers in a 93-80 win. 
 
Arkansas Fort Smith opened the game with a 10-3 run, going to Ryan Maxwell early and often. Maxwell got the ball to the paint repeatedly, hitting 3-of-3 shots inside with a 3-pointer and a pair of layups for 11 first-half points on four shots. 
 
The Lions hurt the Hilltoppers in transition and at the rim early, outscoring St. Edward's 11-3 on the fast break and 24-14 in the paint. 
 
St. Edward's responded by overwhelming Arkansas Fort Smith from long distance, hitting 9-for-18 on 3-pointers in the first half for a 27-6 advantage from beyond the 3-point line. 
 
CONOR MCMANUS and BENNETT MOHN led the charge, combining for 26 first-half points on 9-for-14 shooting. Arkansas Fort Smith geared its defense toward denying dribble penetration and post-entry passes to SEAN ELKINTON. The ploy worked towards its aims, limiting St. Edward's leading scorer to five points. 
 
St. Edward's leveraged that attention to counter creatively, overloading one side of the court to find McManus open on the opposite corner. The Hilltoppers also branched their offense to exploit new leaks with the same initial actions. An early pick-and-roll led to an Elkinton layup from JAYDEN JOHNSTON. Then, a few possessions later, the Hilltoppers ran the same setup. This time, Johnston faked the pass to Elkinton diving, collapsing the defense to leave McManus open in the corner a pass away. 
 
The Hilltoppers moved with purpose and precision, assisting on 13 of their 16 made field goals to just five turnovers for a 48-41 halftime lead. 
 
St. Edward's carried the momentum in the second half, hitting five of its first eight 3-point attempts, all assisted on. The outside shooting pulled the strings of the defense in different directions, spreading it out to open things inside. 
 
The space allowed reserve big man JAMISON KAY to work inside for a short jumper, gritty post-up, driving layup, and 3-pointer for nine points in the second half. Mohn cut for a layup, and St. Edward's played the defense like an accordion, expanding and collapsing it repeatedly. 
 
Arkansas Fort Smith worked to keep pace by barreling inside to get to the free-throw line and floaters and jumpers from Roland McCoy, but Elkinton held the Lions off with a layup and four free throws down the stretch to extend the lead back to 17. 
 
McManus shot 6-for-8 from behind the 3-point line and all three free-throw attempts. BENNETT MOHN and BLAKE NIELSEN contributed 13 points each. Nielsen also tied GAVINO RAMOS with a team-high five assists and Elkinton with seven rebounds. 
 
St. Edward's finished with 19 assists on its 30 made field goals, shooting at a 49.2 percent clip. The Hilltoppers improved to 13-6 with a 6-4 conference record and will travel to play Texas Permian Basin and Angelo State next week.