Photo by Russell Marwitz/russellmarwitz.com
LONGVIEW- If there was one thing UMHB head coach Clif Carroll was disappointed in when his team walked out of the gym following Saturday’s 81-77 road loss to Concordia, it was the slight lack of effort displayed by his squad.
So in a stark contrast to the ASC opener, his Crusaders came out of the gates with the lead, and left with a victory, displaying effort, energy, and the toughness he had been looking for in the days that preceded Thursday night’s 86-73 win at LeTourneau. It moved No. 24 UMHB to 3-2 overall, 1-1 in conference play, in a quality victory over the Yellowjackets, who were ranked No. 2 in the ASC Preseason Poll.
“That’s a tough place to play, and a tough team,” Carroll said postgame. “They have skill and move the ball well. That’s a quality win right there.”
How it happened
The game’s most pivotal point came with 3:34 remaining, when LeTourneau’s Warren Richardson converted on a free-throw, and cut the UMHB lead to just six, 73-67, on the heels of consecutive dunks from the Yellowjackets. The dunks brought the home crowd back into it, and all of a sudden, UMHB’s lead, which had been 11 less than two minutes before, did not seem so secure.
“Some of that was self-inflicted a little bit,” Carroll said. “We can’t turn the ball over in the middle of the floor. We can’t let them get free reign at the rim. Those dunks excite the crowd and gain momentum.”
That 9-2 run from LeTourneau was the hosts’ final charge at victory, but the Crusaders withstood the test, as Ty Prince, UMHB’s leading scorer on the night with 28 points, came through with a jumper 21 seconds after Richardson’s free throw. Four free throws from Josiah Johnson and a layup from Prince soon followed, doubling the lead in the span of just over two minutes to 81-69.
“Credit to our guys, we’ve been through some wars now,” Carroll noted. “This is a team that’s becoming ‘veteran’. LETU went on that 9-2 run to cut it down, and then all of a sudden, we kind of said, ‘Alright, that’s it’, and took control of the game.”
UMHB’s offensive attack clicked from the start, with Josiah Johnson scoring the game’s first points on a jump-shot 55 seconds after tip-off. Gibson Hearne’s three-pointer at the 16:39 mark made it 13-5 in favor of the Cru, and the energy was certainly there for the visitors from Belton. But LETU did not back down easily. The Yellowjackets fought back, aided by a vocal home crowd, and cut the deficit to just two on a Christian Adams jumper at the 11:43 mark.
It seemed that then, just as would be the case in the game’s final minutes, that a switch flipped for Carroll’s squad, who mounted a 14-2 run en route to a 35-23 advantage, UMHB’s largest lead of the first half.
“We really talked about creating better opportunities for each other. We found better rhythm shots. The ball moved, we found the open guy in good spots. Their game plan was to contest, and not get overly aggressive defensively. So we took advantage of it. I felt like we did a great job in the second half, not relying on our three-point shot and put pressure on them at the rim.”
That was indeed the case, as UMHB took a 48-41 halftime lead, shooting 64 percent in the first 20 minutes. The second half was much of the same, as all 40 of the Crusaders’ points came within the three-point arc, mostly around the rim, as they dribbled and drove inside from the perimeter. In fact, UMHB was 0-for-1 from three-point range in the second half, but proved they did not need long-range scoring opportunities to claim a win. The Cru scored 34 points in the paint, and converted on 60.8 percent of its shots.
Just as impressive was the defensive effort, which was on par with the offensive output, as the Cru were successful in limiting Deonte Jackson’s production for the Yellowjackets. Entering the matchup, the senior guard was averaging 26.3 points per game, the focal point of LeTourneau’s offense. But UMHB held him scoreless until the 7:11 mark of the second half, when he scored on a layup moments after missing a three-pointer. In total, though he provided a sort of spark for LETU late, Jackson finished 6-of-18 shooting, 0-of-10 from three-point range.
“This year, their offense primarily runs through [Jackson],” Carroll said. “He’s great when he’s playing with a foot forward and very aggressive. We felt like we needed to have him back up a little bit, so we were changing defenses on him, and he got a little bit timid. He’s a great player, that’s not going to happen very often. Credit to our guys for competing with him tonight.”
Notable Team Stats
UMHB’s shooting percentage of 60.8% is the highest mark in the program’s history since the Feb. 27, 2021 win over Concordia, in which the Crusaders were 64.6%. The starting five of Prince, Johnson, Hearne, Luke Feely and Kyle Wright accounted for all but six of UMHB’s points, and 24 of its 31 rebounds.
Up Next
UMHB travels to ETBU, seeking its first win in Marshall since 2021. That ASC matchup is set for Saturday at 3 p.m., with ETBU now 6-1, 3-0 in ASC play.
“ETBU is a tough matchup,” Carroll said. “They beat us last year at their place, and gave us a great game at home. One of the advantages we had tonight was our size. But they negate our size and athleticism [with their rotation]. We’re going to need guys to step up that may have not had big roles tonight. It’s a tough game, a tough matchup, but we’re up for it.”
