#CruWin | Brooks’ clutch 3-pointer lifts UMHB men’s basketball to 84-83 win at McMurry

Photo of Payton Brooks by Russell Marwitz/True To The Cru/russellmarwitz.com

ABILENE, Texas–In his hometown of Abilene on Saturday afternoon, Payton Brooks emerged as the hero for the UMHB men’s basketball team. 

With the Cru trailing 83-81 against McMurry, and less than 10 seconds left in regulation, the ball found its way into Brooks’ hands in the left corner of the 3-point arc on a pass from Josiah Johnson. Without hesitation, the senior guard stepped up and took the shot. 

Swish. 

Brooks’ go-ahead 3-pointer put UMHB in front, 84-83, and the Crusaders came away with the win on the ensuing play. McMurry’s desperation 3-pointer at the buzzer was off the mark, as the visitors from Belton improved to 8-7 overall, and 4-4 in the ASC. 

“You couldn’t write a more perfect ending,” UMHB head coach Clif Carroll said postgame of Brooks’ clutch 3-pointer. “And for Josiah to make that pass [to set up the 3] is special. That’s the type of moment that teams can build on.”

The battle played out down the stretch in very similar fashion to the meeting between UMHB and McMurry a season ago in Belton, when the Crusaders walked away with a 77-75 victory. For the final four minutes, the margin was no more than four points. Nearly every shot held a chance to either give the leading team an advantage greater than one possession, or the losing team the lead, and the intensity paralleled that fact as the final minutes ticked away. 

UMHB was no stranger to the moment. Eight of the Crusaders’ games entering Saturday’s matchup had been decided by single digits, so the nature of the contest coming down to a final shot did not seem to faze the visitors from Belton. And under pressure, UMHB prevailed.

With 13 seconds left, the Crusaders fouled McMurry’s Tristan Holden, sending him to the free- throw line for a one-and-one. He missed the first and possession went to The Cru, leading to Johnson’s long pass to Brooks, setting up the 3-pointer. 

“That’s the type of moment right there where teams can really turn corners and change trajectories of seasons,” Carroll added. “It just goes to show you that we still have it. We haven’t been playing well, but we have it inside of us.”

After dropping a 103-92 result to Hardin-Simmons on Thursday night, UMHB returned to the floor for practice on Friday, committed to improvement on the defensive end. Making strides in the effort seen on the court stemmed from establishing proper positioning on defense, Carroll noted, and that was a focus for The Cru entering Saturday’s matchup. 

“I had a great mentor of mine that talked to me after the game on Thursday, and he said, ‘Clif, it’s not that you won’t play hard. It’s that you can’t play hard. If you’re not in a stance, you’re not ready to move, and you can’t play hard.’ To me, that was an ‘ah-ha’ moment of, ‘Hey, we need to go back to the beginning and start from scratch, and get in a defensive stance to be ready.’”

That aspect proved even more valuable considering the opponent. An athletic team with several dynamic scorers, McMurry challenged The Cru on Saturday, and shot 40.5 percent while connecting on 15 3-pointers. Four starters ended up with double-digit point totals.  

“McMurry is a tough team to guard,” Carroll said. “They spread the ball around and have talented offensive guys. So I felt like we did a great job today of being ready, and getting the stops when we needed to. [McMurry] shot the ball well and made some great plays. We took all those punches, and when we had to get stops, we got them. When we had to get rebounds, we got them.” 

McMurry led 36-35 at halftime, but at no point did one team establish itself in control. It was back-and-forth for the entirety of the contest, though UMHB jumped out to a 10-2 lead and garnered early confidence in the opening three minutes. 

While the Warhawks cut into that advantage, the Crusaders continued finding consistent offense, and took advantage of every trip to the foul line. Few chances came in the first half, but UMHB went a perfect 5-of-5 at the stripe in the first 20 minutes, and followed that by converting on 11-of-14 attempts in the second half. 

Every single free throw was necessary in what turned out to be a one-point win, and the continued emphasis on exceptional free-throw shooting stems from Carroll’s time coaching with the legendary Bobby Knight. 

“When I was at Texas Tech as a student assistant with Coach Knight, one of things that we tried to do in every game was make more free throws than the other team attempted,” Carroll said. “He always felt that was one of the great indicators of winning ballgames. That means you’re playing good defense, and not fouling. It means you’re being aggressive and not settling offensively. 

“So today, we made 16-of-19 and [McMurry] was 8-of-14. Coach Knight is not the greatest basketball coach of all-time for nothing. He was pretty smart. I learned a few lessons from him, and that’s one of them: get to the free throw line and make ‘em. This team is really good at that.”

Johnson led UMHB’s offensive effort in the victory, scoring 21 points along with five assists. Brooks had 13 and shot 3-of-6 from 3-point range, and Ryan Pondant tallied 11 points. 

Matt Pena finished with a team-high 26 points for McMurry in the loss. 

UMHB returns to Belton next Saturday for a duel with Concordia (TX) at 3 p.m. at the Mayborn Campus Center. Concordia comes off an upset of Hardin-Simmons on Saturday, 103-102, and is also 4-4 in ASC play.