ABILENE — Playing for the third time in five days, UMHB men’s basketball was pushed to the brink on Sunday afternoon.
It has become almost a given that when The Cru and McMurry meet on the court, a competitive duel follows. Each of last season’s meetings in American Southwest Conference play were decided by single digits, including an 84-83 nailbiter in Abilene that saw Payton Brooks drain a go-ahead 3-pointer with five seconds left.
Sunday afternoon’s non-conference tilt between the two added yet another down-to-the-wire contest in the series between the two. McMurry connected on back-to-back 3s in a seven-second span with 31 seconds left in regulation, sending the game into overtime. And in OT, UMHB’s Eli Beard took The Cru from a one-point deficit to a three-point lead, converting on four free throws in the final 23 seconds of UMHB’s 85-83 win.
The Cru is now 7-1 with seven consecutive wins, heading into two crucial games in the Pacific Northwest next week against Whitman (2-4) and Cal Lutheran (4-2).
“This was our fourth game in eight days, and it’s been a while since we’ve had a day off,” UMHB head coach Clif Carroll said postgame. “Sunday morning, traveling the same day, there’s just a lot of things that could’ve gone wrong here. We built a 10-point lead with five minutes to go in the first half then let them go on a 16-point run to end the half. There’s a lot there that could’ve gone south. It took a lot of toughness to get through that adversity and come out with a win.”
The first half alone had 11 lead changes. UMHB scored on one end, and McMurry, far better than what its 1-5 record revealed, countered on the other. That continued for a stretch of several minutes until UMHB gained breathing room with an 8-0 run, capped by Eli Beard’s 3-pointer from the right wing for a 30-20 lead. But that 3 with 5:18 left ended up being UMHB’s final points of the half. McMurry scored the last 16 points as the Warhawks took control, leading 36-30 at the intermission.
The Warhawks maintained the advantage well into the second half, going up by as many as eight points on Matt Pena’s 3-pointer with 14:27 left. UMHB’s win streak was very much in jeopardy, but The Cru, true to their early-season form, regained their rhythm soon enough. Josh Goings scored on consecutive driving layups before Coco Rose, facing his former team for the first time, added a layup of his own, bringing UMHB within one. 53 seconds later, Beard, the game’s high-scorer, put The Cru back in front, 48-47.
That was with 10:54 left. The lead changed hands three more times before Zachary Engels came through with back-to-back short-range shots, tying the score at 54 apiece before giving UMHB a 56-54 advantage at the 6:30 mark.
Now fast forward to the 1:04 mark of the second half. The lead Engels gave The Cru over six minutes prior had been extended to seven, 70-63, and it seemed McMurry’s upset bid would indeed come up short.
But the Warhawks were far from finished. Matt Pena connected on a 3 with 45 seconds to go, and Kino Thompson did the same on a fadeaway shot from beyond the arc 14 seconds later, A pair of free throws from Goings were sandwiched between McMurry’s 3-point shots, and UMHB still led 72-69, holding possession with 31 seconds left. But Engels’ inbounds pass to Beard was deflected by Pena, and a favorable bounce—perhaps some Kimbrell Arena magic—saw the ball end up right back in Pena’s hands. From the left corner, and just in front of his own bench, he drilled a game-tying 3. UMHB held the ball for the final shot of regulation, but never got it off, with McMurry’s Pena forcing a turnover as the buzzer sounded.
Yet, UMHB refused to allow the late collapse and McMurry’s surge in momentum to determine the game’s outcome. The Cru and Warhawks exchanged layups in the opening minute of overtime, and Beard’s 3 with 2:21 to go put UMHB in front, 77-75. McMurry took back the lead twice more, including on Thompson’s jumper with 44 seconds left.
But Beard again answered for The Cru, getting to the foul line and making two free throws. The first tied the score at 82. The second gave UMHB an 83-82 lead. And they held onto that advantage, as McMurry missed a layup on the other end, which turned out to be the Warhawks’ last scoring opportunity. Beard made another set of free throws with six seconds to play, and Thompson was fouled as he dribbled down the court, looking for a game-tying 3. He made the first free throw, intentionally missed the second, and UMHB took possession, running out the remainder of the clock.
That sequence is the exact reason why Carroll schedules the way he does. In all actuality, the entire game, from McMurry’s 16-0 run in the first half to UMHB’s surge to take back the lead in the second to the wild finish in regulation backs up Carroll’s scheduling philosophy. The goal of non-conference play is preparing The Cru for what lies ahead, testing them against good opposition, and forcing them to overcome the difficult breaks that naturally occur over the course of a game.
On Sunday afternoon, The Cru struggled at times, but also stepped up with the pressure on. That kind of experience only makes UMHB better in regards to the conference slate and hopefully, the NCAA Tournament in March.
“The whole purpose of playing tough schedules is to get tested,” Carroll said afterwards. “McMurry, on paper, doesn’t seem like a tough test, but this is a team that always plays us tough because of our history. My history here, Coco’s history here, their assistant coach (Tyson Scott) played for me. That’s why we get their best effort, every year. I have a lot of respect for [McMurry head coach Zach] Pickelman and Tyson Scott. They had their guys ready to go today. They fought and came back.
“At the end of the day, being able to fight through that adversity makes us better. Now, at the end of the season, we have something to come back to when we have to do this against Hardin-Simmons or LeTourneau, or if we’re fortunate enough to be in the NCAA Tournament. We can get through tough things. It’s always better to come out with a win, but it’s good to have this adversity.”
The way in which The Cru did it is notable as well. Unlike Tuesday’s win over St. Thomas, in which UMHB went 12-of-18 from 3-point range, the Crusaders were just 5-of-16 from beyond the arc at McMurry. But they scored in different ways, relying less on long-range shots, and more on layups and jumpers in the paint. Of their four made shots in overtime, three came in the paint. On the day, The Cru scored 48 points in the paint to McMurry’s 24.
“If you’re going to be a really good team, you have to have different ways to do things,” Carroll noted. “If we just rely on a 3-point shot, we’re going to lose games we shouldn’t lose because we’re just not making shots that day.
“You go back to it being our fourth game in eight days, and even though it looks like we’ve had big victories, it’s never easy playing Concordia, it’s never easy playing McMurry. So our legs were a little spent, and we needed to find a different way to get the ball in the hole. We made some tough shots down the stretch.”
Game Notes
- Eli Beard led UMHB with 26 points, his fifth 20+ point performance of the season. The senior guard is now averaging 21.3 PPG.
- Beard also played a team-high 42 minutes. He and Pena were the only players from either team with 40+ minutes in Sunday’s contest.
- UMHB shot 50% as a team from the field for the third-straight game and the sixth time in the last seven. The Crusaders were 34-of-67 from the field (50.7%).
- McMurry converted on 10 3-pointers, marking the third time this season in which an opponent recorded at least 10 3s against The Cru. The other two instances were Trine (Nov. 8) and Concordia (TX) (Nov. 14).
- The Cru tallied 13 steals, which marked the seventh time this season that UMHB’s defensive effort produced 10 or more steals in a game.
- UMHB has now won 10 straight games against McMurry, the longest streak for either program in the series since the turn of the century. Six of those victories have come in Abilene.
- All 10 wins have come with Carroll as UMHB’s head coach, as the win streak began in Carroll’s first season in 2020-21.
Up Next
UMHB faces Whitman in Walla Walla, Washington on Friday (Dec. 13) at 9:00 p.m. CT, before battling Cal Lutheran, who is currently receiving votes in the D3hoops.com Top 25 Poll, on Saturday at 5:00 p.m. CT.
