Beard's record-breaking 44-point performance sends UMHB men's basketball to Saturday's ASC title game

MARSHALL, Texas — Eli Beard had no intention of letting The Cru come up short on Friday afternoon, not after suffering back-to-back losses by a combined three points less than week prior.

So in a win-or-go-home atmosphere at the ASC Tournament, Beard took control when it mattered most, aided by a number of Crusader contributors on both ends of the floor. With UMHB trailing LeTourneau, 66-65, with 12:19 to play, Beard came down the floor and connected on a 3-pointer, raising his point total to 25 as The Cru regained the lead. But he was only getting started.

The senior guard scored 22 of UMHB’s final 32 points, including 17 of the last 19, as the third-seeded Crusaders took down No. 2 seed LeTourneau, advancing to Saturday’s American Southwest Conference championship game in a 97-89 victory.

“We knew they weren’t going away,” Beard said postgame. “We knew we had to stay together and stay the course.”

It marks the second-straight year that The Cru has reached the ASC title game, and the third time in five seasons under head coach Clif Carroll. UMHB will face top-seeded Hardin-Simmons in the 2 p.m. championship game at Ornelas Gym.

“It was another classic,” Carroll said. “Two great teams with great players making big-time plays. We found a way to be the toughest team at the end of the day and find a way to win. I’m really grateful for my guys and the effort they gave today.”

Beard finished with 44 points in the win, both opening and closing the contest with a flurry of scoring. His career-high performance set a new ASC Tournament record, surpassing the 42 points scored by Louisiana College’s Josh Johnson in the 2007 tournament. Ironically, Johnson’s performance came in a quarterfinal matchup against UMHB.

The Big Sandy, Texas native had 13 points in his first 12 minutes on the floor, keeping UMHB in contention early as LETU looked to pull away. He finished 17-of-25 from the field and 6-of-7 at the free throw line, converting on four key free throws in the final 30 seconds. It pushed The Cru’s lead to seven, icing the game after the Yellowjackets cut the deficit to 91-88 on two free throws from Teigan Edwards.

Beard wasn’t the only Crusader in double figures. Zach May, who scored the final five points of the first half, registered a new career-high with 14 points, and Donta Coady had 13 points off the bench. Maurice Pinnock added 12 points, his fourth double-digit scoring performance in the last five games.

“We know that if we can get our talented guards in space and let them attack, it opens up for everybody,” Carroll noted. “We wanted to play fast, get out, and move the ball.”

LETU simply couldn’t miss in the game’s early goings, as the Yellowjackets quickly built a 23-13 lead on the backs of a number of offensive contributors. Jackson and Miller each had six points apiece in the first seven minutes, and LETU converted on 9 of its first 15 shots, five of which came from beyond the 3-point arc.

But the hot start soon fizzled, as UMHB stepped up on the defensive end and chipped away at the deficit. In one stretch, UMHB made nine of its 10 field goal attempts, with a 3-pointer from Jerry Day Jr. and a layup from Beard bringing the Crusaders within two points of tying the score at the 6:47 mark. The Cru cut LETU’s advantage to a single point three different times in the final five minutes, until Coady’s pull-up jumper put UMHB in the lead with 2:07 left.

The visitors from Belton didn’t let up, and closed the opening half on an 11-2 run, leading 51-46 at the intermission. May hit a 3 at the 46-second mark before tipping back a fast-break layup with 10 seconds, giving UMHB its five-point halftime lead.

The back-and-forth pattern continued well into the second half. Pinnock connected on a 3 for a 54-46 lead—UMHB’s largest of the afternoon up to that point—but that was swiftly answered by a 6-0 run from the Yellowjackets. Fast forward to the 13-minute range, and it was LETU’s turn to dig out of a deficit in the form of a 6-2 run that saw Jackson Mayes’ layup push the Yellowjackets in front, 66-65.

One possession later, after Beard’s 3, Walker Blaine countered with a 3 of his own for a 69-68 LETU lead. It was the last time the Yellowjackets held the advantage. UMHB went on a 10-0 run, eventually widening its lead to 80-70 on a Beard layup with 6:53 left.

Undeterred, LETU again charged from behind, cutting the deficit back to one, 86-85, on a 3 from Caedmon Liebengood at the 2:38 mark. With the game hanging in the balance, Beard knocked down his fourth 3 of the contest 16 seconds later, slamming the door on the Yellowjackets’ comeback. LETU’s final four points came at the free throw line, as they missed three 3s down the stretch.

While LETU opened the game by connecting on four of its first six 3-point attempts, UMHB avoided a repeat of the last meeting between the two, in which the Yellowjackets hit 20 3s in a 102-81 win. With The Cru playing tighter perimeter defense, LETU finished 14-of-43 from beyond the arc, and 6-of-21 in the second half.

UMHB now finds itself in a similar position to last season, having overcome a difficult stretch through conference play to reach the ASC title game. In his 10th season as a head coach in the ASC, Carroll’s teams have won at least one conference tournament game in six of those seasons, and reached the conference final on four occasions.

He spoke candidly postgame about what the return to the title game means to him personally, considering the success of his mentors in the league and the fact that he is currently the longest-standing head coach in the league, with a five-year stint at Sul Ross State preceding his time at UMHB.

“It’s not beyond me to understand where this puts us,” Carroll said. “There’s so much history in this league. You go back to Ken Deweese, Terry Butterfield, Craig Carse, Bert West, Gene Rushing, and Ron Holmes. To be walking the same sidelines and same situations as those guys is special to me.

“I appreciate everything all those guys ever did for me. So it’s an honor to be here, and get to play for this thing again. Hopefully we can win it again, [get] another ring, get to the tournament, and make our conference and school proud. It means the world to me as a coach, and I know it means the world to these guys.”

Carroll also mentioned the impact of Josh Goings, who was on the sidelines with the team Friday after suffering a serious right leg injury in Saturday’s regular season finale against Howard Payne.

“He was on the sidelines today and it was a huge boost to all of us,” Carroll said of Goings. “We won that game because he was here, and his presence. Having him here tomorrow is going to be special. I’ve learned never to take these opportunities for granted. We’ll be ready. We’ve been here before. We’ll know what to do.”