UMHB men's basketball overcomes late push from Concordia (MN), Wins 73-61 at Cru Classic

BELTON — The second half was enough of a wake up call to stick in the minds of the Mary Hardin-Baylor men’s basketball team for quite some time, though not so drastic as to sting in the win-loss column.

Cliche as it might be, Sunday evening’s duel between UMHB and Concordia Moorhead fit the description of being a “tale of two halves”. Such is the case when a 22-point game at halftime ends up with an eight-point margin by the 3:22 mark of the second half.

After shooting 7-of-13 from beyond the arc and turning 10 Concordia turnovers into 15 points in the opening 20 minutes, UMHB hit a wall in the early minutes of the second half. It let the Cobbers pull back within striking distance, as they ultimately outscored The Cru, 41-31, over the final 20 minutes.

But UMHB never surrendered its lead, even through a cold shooting stretch in the second half, and in turn, found its way to a 73-61 win in its Cru Classic opener. 41 points came off the bench as The Cru now sits at 10-3, including a perfect 4-0 inside the Mayborn Campus Center.

“I thought our energy was a lot better in the first,” Josh Goings, who had 11 points and six rebounds said. “We were connecting, screening, moving the ball around more. In the second half, our energy kind of died and we came out slow. That’s why the big shift [happened].”

Head coach Clif Carroll had a similar assessment of the performance, as he reflected on it postgame. Getting in the win column was of utmost importance, especially with ninth-ranked Illinois Wesleyan awaiting on Monday afternoon. But to let a commanding 42-20 halftime lead shrink to single digits in the first five minutes coming out of the intermission was inexcusable.

“The fact that we can get a win is great,” Carroll noted. “But we have high aspirations here. We want to be great. So being mediocre in the second half is not good.”

That mediocrity showed up in a variety of ways, most often with self-inflicted struggles on the offensive end that trickled down to the defensive effort as well. Six of UMHB’s nine total assists—a final total that was still five assists shy of their season average—came in the first half, as The Cru became disjointed in the early part of the second half.

“We came out and started looking for our own stuff a little bit instead of the team stuff,” Carroll said, referencing UMHB’s shot selection in the second half. “We get mad at each other for not passing the ball, and all of a sudden, we’re not helping each other defensively. It’s immature.”

That, along with Concordia’s ability to penetrate UMHB’s interior defense and score from short-range, put the visitors from Moorhead, Minnesota back within striking distance. The Cobbers scored in the paint on three straight possessions as part of a 15-2 run that cut The Cru’s advantage to 44-35 by the 15:02 mark.

Using their size and strength around the rim, Concordia worked the ball inside and allowed its forwards to go to work on the offensive end. 6-foot-9 forward Jackson Loge, who had a game-high 25 points, collected several of those paint touches in the second half, and 6-foot-6 forwards Rowan Nelson and Jacob Cook also proved impactful on that end of the floor. Nelson and Cook scored on consecutive shots in the paint at the tail-end of Concordia’s key 15-2 run, and aided in the rebounding as well. Loge, to his credit, had 14 boards, five of which came on the offensive end, and was the only player for either side with a double-digit rebounding total.

“Concordia decided to go and play hard,” Carroll said. “My hat’s off to them. They changed their effort level and just outplayed us in the second half. But a lot of that’s on us not playing as well as we did in the first half.”

The first half was truly a productive 20 minutes of basketball for UMHB. Carroll went deep into the bench, with 14 players seeing the floor, and 12 of those Crusaders ended up with a positive plus/minus total (measures points gained or lost by UMHB while that individual player was on the court). Once The Cru seized a lead, there was no looking back, as Eli Beard tallied eight of UMHB’s first 13 points as part of a 16-4 spurt in the game’s initial six minutes. After spending about two minutes on the bench, Beard checked back in and scored five straight points, pushing the lead out to 21-6 with 10:55 left.

The offensive flow expanded beyond Beard, too. Coco Rose converted on a pair of short-range shots, and Maurice Pinnock swished 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions late in the half, adding a jumper from the right wing that gave UMHB its largest lead of the contest, 40-16, with 1:43 left. Pinnock and Beard each had 13 points in the first 20 minutes.

Compared to the second half offense, a span in which UMHB was just 9-of-23 from the field, it seemed like night and day.

“I think we just needed guys to settle down and do what they’re good at,” Carroll said. “[We needed to] quit worrying about what they can’t do or what they’re trying to be better at. Like, know who you are and be good at what you do. It’s a little bit of an identity crisis. The first half was fine. Nobody had an ego. The second half, we started having an ego all of a sudden.”

Amongst the most concerning numbers on the box score was The Cru’s low assist total. A lack of ball movement within the half-court offense stagnated UMHB at times, leaving the door open for Concordia to edge closer. Looking ahead, Carroll made it clear he expects far more than nine assists in a 40-minute contest.

“Great teams have assists. We’re averaging 14 per game right now. Our really good teams here are averaging 22 and 23. That’s a huge difference, and something we’ve got to get fixed.”

Down the stretch, the Cobbers pulled within eight on a pair of free throws from Connor Engelmeyer with 3:22 to go. That capped an 8-1 run, but Zachary Engels answered by scoring on each of The Cru’s next two possessions, and then forced a turnover at half-court that ended with Goings soaring towards the rim for a game-sealing layup at the 1:11 mark.

“I think that’s one of our biggest traits, getting those steals and getting out and running,” Goings said of the layup, which saw him gather the loose ball and pass to Jerry Day Jr., before receiving a perfect pass from Day in stride. “It was big getting some energy back.”

UMHB closed the game by going 5-of-6 at the free throw line in the last 20 seconds, extending its lead back to double digits for good.

The focus now shifts to another battle against a big, physical Midwest program in Illinois Wesleyan, one that displayed its strength by out-rebounding LeTourneau, 56-27, in Game 1 of the Cru Classic on Sunday. The Titans are ranked ninth nationally, holding marquee wins over No. 2 WashU, No. 5 UW-Platteville, and No. 25 Cal Lutheran. For the Crusaders, it marks the second time this season they’ve gone toe-to-toe with a Top 10 opponent, but the first time that matchup will be played in Belton. Tip-off is set for 4 p.m. CT on Monday from the Mayborn Campus Center. Admission is free.

“I think it’s a great opportunity,” Goings said. “Our team needs something like that. Anytime you get the chance to play a Top 10 team, it’s exciting.”