MARSHALL, Texas–For the third straight season, the UMHB men’s basketball team found itself on the losing end of a back-and-forth road battle against ETBU, as the Tigers emerged with a 67-60 victory on their home court Thursday night.
All three of UMHB’s road losses at ETBU within the last three years have been decided by single digits, with this one being the closest margin. UMHB is now 9-8 overall, and 5-5 in ASC play, tied with Concordia for fifth-place in the ASC standings. ETBU improves above .500 in conference action, to 6-5, and is 10-9 overall.
“In the second half, we turned it over too much and couldn’t get a rebound,” UMHB head coach Clif Carroll said postgame. “It came down to that. You know going in there that it’s a tough place to play and we executed our game plan defensively as well as we could. We just couldn’t get the rebounds.”
Rebounding played a central role in the outcome, with ETBU tallying 18 offensive rebounds, the most allowed in a game by UMHB this season. It lengthened the Tigers’ offensive possessions, and led to 16 second-chance points.
The Crusaders were solid on defense, holding an opponent below 70 points for the sixth time this season, as they forced ETBU into difficult shots through both halves. The issue was that several of those tough shots that ended up off the mark bounced back into the hands of the Tigers, rather than ending up with UMHB and giving way to a Crusader offensive possession.
“We were forcing them into shots we wanted them to take,” Carroll added. “And those shots turned into some long rebounds that we just didn’t get. There’s so many–I call them ‘luck plays’ or ‘fortune plays’–where the ball comes off the rim and can go one way or another. One way is us, and one way is them. It seemed like the ball always bounced to them.”
It was the type of contest in which the victor did not emerge until the closing seconds, as the momentum shifted back and forth inside Ornelas Gym for much of the night. With 2:48 left, Michael Roberts converted on a layup for ETBU, putting the hosts in front, 58-55.
Then came a counter from Josiah Johnson, as the senior guard swished a 3-pointer from the top of the key 57 seconds later, knotting the score at 58 apiece. ETBU’s next possession saw Kurt Labeaud answer with a 3-pointer for the Tigers, and UMHB’s Eli Beard cut the deficit to one on a pair of free throws with 1:01 left.
With 38 seconds on the clock, ETBU’s Jaden Conner came up with the Tigers’ biggest offensive play of the contest, as his 3-point try sank through the net, inciting a roar from the home crowd. It put the Tigers up by four, and consecutive missed 3-pointers from The Cru over the next 24 seconds all but ended UMHB’s chance at a comeback.
UMHB opened the contest with a critical 11-0 scoring run that began with a pair of made free throws from Johnson with 13:24 left in the first half. It took The Cru from a 11-10 deficit to a 21-11 lead, as the visitors from Belton gained a double-digit lead. The offense started fast, just as it did against Concordia on Saturday, and UMHB ended up shooting 54.2 percent in the opening half.
“Teams are playing [Josiah] tough,” Carroll said. “We had a pretty good plan and got him to the rim a couple times. Then we kind of quit doing it. We went back to one pass, dribble through the defense, and shoot. That just doesn’t work. Having only six assists is not good enough. We have to move the ball better.”
Indeed, ETBU closed the gap rather quickly, and took back a 23-22 lead on a Labeaud free throw with 5:44 left. UMHB answered the call, going back in front on Ryan Pondant’s layup at the 4:53 mark, which sparked a 6-0 run. The Cru led 32-31 at the halftime intermission.
The second half unfolded in similar fashion. ETBU tied the score twice before taking a 39-37 lead, and widened its advantage to as many as eight points on a 3-pointer from Conner with 13:10 remaining. UMHB battled all the way back, eventually tying the score on Johnson’s 3-pointer with 1:51 left, though the Crusaders never retook the lead.
In the midst of fighting for an ASC Tournament bid, UMHB has little time to dwell on the narrow loss. Not with LeTourneau next on the slate. The Yellowjackets fell to UMHB in Belton on Dec. 7, 75-66, but are in the middle of the pack in the ASC standings, and currently sit one game ahead of The Cru, at 6-5 in league play. LETU enters Saturday’s duel with consecutive losses, and is eager for a victory, especially at home, where the Yellowjackets are 6-3 this season.
Said Carroll: “I told the guys after the game, ‘It’s not like we didn’t have chances. ETBU hit the two big 3s at the end to put it out of reach, but if we don’t turn it over like we did, or we take control earlier, and get some of those rebounds, [it could’ve been different].’
“Now is not the time to pout and mope and feel sorry for ourselves. Nobody is going to feel sorry for us. We have to flip the mentality. If we can get out of this road trip with a split, we’ve done our job. It just puts a little more pressure on Saturday.”
Johnson led UMHB’s offensive attack with 22 points, tallying a double-double with his 12 rebounds. Beard added 19 points, and Johnson and Kyle Wright each had two assists. Darry Moore was ETBU’s leading scorer, with 17 points.
