Photo: File photo of Josiah Johnson, who scored 23 points against St. Thomas on Friday (Credit: Russell Marwitz/True To The Cru/russellmarwitz.com)
HOUSTON-In yet another down-to-the-wire finish, No. 15 UMHB found itself on the losing end once again on Friday afternoon, falling to St. Thomas, 90-82, in a contest much closer than even the final score reveals.
UMHB drops to 2-2 overall, with back-to-back narrow losses after starting the season with a pair of victories at the Sikma Invitational in Bloomington, Illinois. St. Thomas improves to 5-1 with the victory.
“It was a tale of two halves,” UMHB head coach Clif Carroll said postgame. “We came out [in the second half] with the lead and then go 0-for-5 on 3-pointers. That set the tone. [St. Thomas] attacked the rim and got to the free throw line, and we took threes and missed them.”
With 36 seconds left, UST’s Calvin Williams IV drove hard to the rim, picking up a foul call as his layup fell through the net. The ensuing free throw put the Celts up 77-75, setting up a critical UMHB possession as the clock ticked away in the second half. Though they nearly lost possession, the Crusaders managed to keep the ball inbounds thanks to the efforts of Eli Beard and Payton Brooks, before it found its way into the hands of Kyle Wright atop the key. Wright then dished it to Josiah Johnson, who drove to the lane and picked up a foul call with just five seconds remaining.
The senior from Big Sandy, Texas calmly swished both free throws, marking his ninth and 10th straight made free throws of the day. Williams missed a long 3-pointer at the buzzer, and into overtime the game went.
And that was the point when UST pulled away.
The Celts outscored UMHB 13-5 in the extra period, though Johnson cut UST’s lead to 84-82 with an off-balance 3-pointer with 1:21 to go. The Crusaders followed by forcing a Williams miss, but turned the ball over on the offensive end with just 35 seconds left. Down the stretch, UST made six straight free throws while UMHB missed its final three shots–all 3-point attempts–sealing the Celts’ fifth straight win.
“We lost offensive continuity, and quit trusting each other offensively,” Carroll noted. “We went into it knowing, with the scouting report, that it is hard to play against their set defense. We have to get on the move. We just weren’t smart enough there at the end of the game to execute offensively. And when I say smart enough, I mean the coach, so I have to do a better job there.”
The back-and-forth nature at the end of regulation and into overtime was very much a microcosm of the duel as a whole. Playing on this holiday weekend in front of a vocal UST crowd, the Celts held their own against the nationally-ranked Crusaders, with neither side gaining more than a six-point lead in the first 10 minutes. It ended up as a one-point game for much of the opening half, before UMHB gained a hint of separation, a seven-point, 40-33 lead, on Jerry Day Jr.’s 3-pointer with 1:20 left. At the halftime intermission, UMHB led 42-37.
Though UMHB outrebounded UST by nine, 42-33, and impressively converted on all 21 of its free throws, the Celts were superior in one notable category. UST scored 38 of its points in the paint, and while those numbers tend to stem more from style of play than offensive success, it also spoke to the challenges UMHB dealt with on the defensive end.
Repeatedly driving to the rim, UST hung tight with The Cru by scoring from short-range and picking up fouls in the process. The Celts were 22-of-26 on free throws, and shot well late, which contributed greatly to pushing the game into overtime.
“We executed our defensive gameplan in the first half,” Carroll said. “In the second half, they put their head down and got the rim and started getting some calls, that, had we been a little more aggressive, maybe we would’ve gotten. It just shows that, when we get soft and take our foot off the gas, anybody can beat us.”
That competitiveness over the final 20 minutes of regulation was evident even before the final push of the second half. The largest lead for either side? Four points, for UST, when Marion Williams swished a 3-pointer that put the Celts up, 66-62, with 7:26 remaining. But UMHB erased that within the next minute, on a jumper from Johnson and a layup from Day. Ryan Pondant followed with a layup on UMHB’s next possession, capping the 6-0 run as the visitors from Belton retook the lead.
The Cru remained in front, or tied with UST, for the next four-and-a-half minutes before Nick Anderson put the Celts up, 73-72, on a jumper with 1:20 left. UMHB briefly reclaimed the lead with 54 seconds remaining on Payton Brooks’ 3-pointer, but UST quickly took it back, setting up the tied finish in regulation.
The guard play proved to be solid, with Day converting on a pair of 3-pointers in his season debut, Beard tallying a season-high 24 points, and Johnson adding 23 of his own. Important to note, however, is that UMHB did not have 6-foot-4 wing Zachary Engels available. With UST’s size and physicality, the absence of Engels, who had 13 points against a similar Illinois Wesleyan team two weeks ago, left perhaps more of a void.
This difficult start to the season is not unlike what UMHB endured last season, with a 1-2 start to conference play and a 3-3 record overall. The Crusaders went on to win 19 of their next 20 games to close the regular season.
The chemistry remains a work in progress, especially since UMHB has not yet had a consistent game schedule to build on. But starting next week, that changes. The Crusaders battle Trinity (TX) in non-conference play on Tuesday in San Antonio and then open the conference schedule at Concordia on Saturday. With the arrival of conference play, UMHB will have its typical Thursday-Saturday schedule set for the next two weeks.
“We’re still building chemistry,” Carroll said. “We’re still figuring things out. We’re still trying to find rotations. This was St. Thomas’ eighth game if you include the two exhibitions. And we’re sitting here on four games, still trying to figure it out.
“We’ll continue to grow and get better, but we don’t have a whole lot of time, because [Trinity head coach] Jimmy Smith is coming. His team will be ready to go. We have to understand that teams want to play their best basketball against Mary Hardin-Baylor. We’re struggling with that right now.”
UMHB stat leaders
Points: Eli Beard (24), Josiah Johnson (23), Jerry Day (8), Ryan Pondant (8)
Rebounds: Josiah Johnson (9), Ryan Pondant (9), Connor Zamiara (6)
Assists: Kyle Wright (6), Josiah Johnson (5)
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