BELTON, Texas–Coming out of an 11-day holiday break, Mary Hardin-Baylor men’s basketball (6-5, 2-2 American Southwest Conference) heads to South Texas for a 2 p.m. exhibition duel at Division II Texas A&M-Kingsville (2-8, 0-5 Lone Star Conference) on the eve of the new year.
It marks UMHB’s final non-conference tilt before the American Southwest Conference schedule ramps up in early January. The matchup will also be a first for both programs, who have never faced off within UMHB’s time in D-III.
The Cru heads into the matchup with renewed energy and focus, especially after coming from behind in an 85-78 victory over Berry College on Dec. 19. The win saw UMHB outscore Berry, 54-38, over the final 20 minutes as the Crusaders erased a nine-point first-half deficit. After a difficult start to the season, one in which UMHB lost four straight games, head coach Clif Carroll’s squad seems to be turning the corner. The Cru enters Sunday’s contest with victories in four of its last five matchups.
“[Thursday’s] practice was awesome,” Carroll said. “They had a lot of energy, and a lot of fun, which hasn’t been happening. We were expected to be one of the best teams in the country, and came out and lost four in a row. The pressure builds on you. I think Thursday was refocused, had a different mindset and a different attitude. They got together over the break and implemented some accountability stuff and things they wanted to clean up.”
That included taking a few words out of the day-to-day vocabulary used around practice and games, and the players were quick to correct Carroll when he used one of those words in Thursday’s practice. It was something that Carroll took a sense of pride in, seeing the accountability stem not only from the coaching staff, but from his players as well.
“That is cool that they [corrected me on that] and understand that things like that matter,” Carroll added. “This is a refocused team, and I hope it shows up on the court. Hopefully we can have better chemistry going forwards. I certainly think that we took a few steps in the right way.”
In the win over Berry, a consistent day at the free throw line saw UMHB shoot 31-of-36 from the charity stripe, including a 20-of-23 mark in the second half. That aspect alone noticeably contributed to the UMHB win, and it is not anything new. UMHB leads the ASC in free throw percentage, at 79.6 percent. Guards Josiah Johnson (.880) and Payton Brooks (.806) each rank in the Top 10 in the league in free throw percentage, with Johnson at No. 3 and Brooks at No. 9.
Johnson leads the UMHB offensive attack, averaging 19.0 points per game, and fellow Big Sandy, Texas native Eli Beard enters Sunday’s matchup at 15.3 points per game. Johnson also has a team-high 28 assists and 22 steals this season. Ryan Pondant comes off back-to-back double-digit rebounding performances and averages 6.6 boards per game.
Texas A&M-Kingsville enters the matchup seeking its first win since Nov. 22, when the Javelinas took down Our Lady of the Lake, 72-55. Five straight losses followed that victory, though three of them came by single-digit margins. In TAMUK’s most recent loss, a 48-45 result against Texas A&M International, the Javelinas led 40-38 with 4:21 left, but surrendered an 8-3 scoring run down the stretch, and fell behind.
C.J. Smith scored 23 of the Javelinas’ 45 points in that contest, and is the team’s leading scorer with 15.9 points per game. A senior guard from Mansfield, Texas, Smith also has a team-best 29 assists and 23 steals. Smith is one of only two players on the roster–Kavon Booker being the other–who started in each of TAMUK’s first 10 games this season.
“They have a new head coach this year,” Carroll said. “Omar [Gonzalez] is a great guy and was the assistant for five seasons there. They’re going to be a tough test. We’re going to really have to play well. They’re a more athletic team, and will challenge us.”
According to the TAMUK website, live video from the game will be available at lonestarconferencenetwork.com. Live stats can be found at javelinaathletics.com. General admission tickets are $5.00 and can be purchased at javelinaathletics.com/ticketing.aspx.
