Above photo courtesy of the UMHB Athletics Department
NACOGDOCHES, Texas- The UMHB men’s basketball team travels to face a D-I opponent in Stephen F. Austin on Thursday night, as the Crusaders (1-0) play their second game of the week. Follow along for live updates of the contest.
Game Recap to come shortly
Until then, a couple of postgame notes…
Who stood out for the Cru?: Freshman guard Braedyn Dawes saw his first action in the second half, and ended up finishing second on the team in points, hitting five threes to tally a collegiate-high 15 points. After scoring two in the season-opener, Dawes played 16 minutes in his second collegiate appearance. “You have to look for Dawes,” the SFA play-by-play announcers were saying as UMHB brought the ball up the court late in the second half. The two three-point attempts he missed looked good off the shot, but just barely rattled out. Ty Prince led the Cru in scoring with 16 points.
How it unfolded in the second half: UMHB actually outscored SFA 41-32 in the second half, but it was a little too late to overcome the 44-22 halftime deficit. The Crusaders put together a 17-9 run midway through the second half, and ended up cutting the SFA lead to 13 points on a Josiah Johnson three-pointer with 25 seconds left. That was as close as the Cru got in the second half. They did settle into a rhythm and had 21 points off turnovers over the final 20 minutes of play. UMHB also shot 58 percent from three-point range.
Up Next: UMHB travels to face UT-Arlington on Saturday night at 7 p.m. CT in the Mavericks’ homecoming game. SFA hosts South Dakota State on Sunday at home at 2 p.m. CT.
SFA has opened the second half on an 11-3 run.
Halftime Update
First half summary: UMHB opened the game on a 6-2 run before SFA took over on multiple three-pointers early in the first half. The Lumberjacks mounted a 15-2 run to take a 17-8 lead, widening the margin to 21 points with 2:05 in the half.
What was the difference?: SFA shot much better, both from the field and from beyond the arc. The Lumberjacks shot 51.5 percent from the field, compared to UMHB’s 29.5 percent, and were 36.4 percent from three-point range. Additionally, the SFA ball movement has led to many open looks, as the Lumberjacks have dished out 10 assists. UMHB tallied just two first-half assists.
UMHB top scorers: Ty Prince (6 points), Carson Hammond (6 points)
SFA top scorers: Sadaidriene Hall (10 points), Jaylin Jackson-Posey (7 points)
The battle on the boards: SFA leads 22-18
4:05 in 1st Half:
Before Tip-Off
Starting five for the Cru:
Ty Prince (23 pts vs Southwestern)
Carson Hammond
Sam Reaves
Nathan Stolz
Josiah Johnson (34 pts vs Southwestern)
What you need to know:
Season-opening victories: Both UMHB and SFA rolled to season-opening victories on uesday night, with the Cru defeating Southwestern 100-80 and SFA taking down NAIA program LSU-Alexandria 82-73.
Points off turnovers: 34 of UMHB’s points on Tuesday came from turnovers, while FA turned 19 LSUA turnovers into 24 points. Both squads are especially good in transition.
The head coaches: UMHBs Clif Carroll is in his second season after leading the Cru to a 13-0 conference record a year ago. SFA’s Kyle Keller is in his sixth year on the job in Nacogdoches, having previously served as an assistant at Kansas and Texas A&M.
