Photo of leading scorer Hudson Johnson courtesy of UMHB Athletics
LAS VEGAS, Nevada — Playing on a neutral court for the first time this season Monday night, UMHB men’s basketball found itself forced to win in a way very different from what the Crusaders have become accustomed to.
They scored just 74 points, 15.4 below their season average as the 19th-best scoring offense in Division III. They hit only four 3s, a season-low. They turned it over 17 times, their third-most in a game this season.
And yet, none of it mattered in the ultimate outcome. Because UMHB found a way. Rather than lighting up the scoreboard, The Cru locked down defensively, holding Ohio Northern to just one made field goal over its final 12 shots and a shooting percentage of just 30%.
When the final buzzer sounded inside South Point Arena, the Crusaders (8-4, 0-0 ASC) emerged with a 74-65 win over ONU (6-6, 1-2 OAC), tipping off their two-game stay at the D3hoops.com Classic with a fourth-straight victory.
“I told the guys in the locker room at the end of the game, ‘I would much rather win ugly than lose pretty,’” UMHB head coach Sam Patterson said afterwards, his team now having won five of its last six games played away from Belton. “That wasn’t a pretty game in terms of what it looked like aesthetically, but I do think our guys responded to some adversity. It was a gritty win.”
For Patterson, it felt very much like a flashback to Nov. 13, the night UMHB traveled to LeTourneau and dropped its second game of the season, 92-85, after leading by nine at the half. It had the same sort of feel, with The Cru yet again taking a nine-point advantage into the intermission and unable to shake a quality opponent over the course of the second half. Much like the LETU contest, UMHB saw its sizable lead dwindle down the stretch, going from 12 with 9:34 left to just 1 on Mason Studer’s corner 3 at the 2:47 mark.
But the contrast between the two games came in what unfolded next. ONU never seized the lead. Instead, Zach Engels drove to the lane, drew a foul on a layup, and made the free throw for a three-point play that countered Studer’s 3, pushing UMHB’s lead to 67-63. When the Polar Bears sliced the deficit back to two with 1:24 left, leading scorer Hudson Johnson answered with a layup on UMHB’s ensuing possession, widening the lead back to two possessions. That was it for ONU’s comeback. The Cru closed on a 7-0 run, going 5-of-6 at the free throw line in the last 30 seconds.
“We’ve made strides from the beginning of the season,” Paterson noted. “I think we lose this game in the earlier part of the season. It reminded me a lot of the LeTourneau game, where we had a comfortable lead for much of the first half, and then they made a run with five minutes to go. I took a lot of the blame after the LeTourneau game with the way it finished, and anytime you can learn from a situation like that, it’s a positive.
“Our guys responded much better in this game, and we made a ton of strides. We know as a unit and as a team that we can win pretty, we can score 95 points, shoot a high percentage from 3, and have a low turnover game. But we hadn’t yet won an ugly game like tonight. It’ll give our guys confidence that we can win in a variety of ways.”
The fact that the game unfolded in that way was a credit to ONU, Patterson added, as the Polar Bears entered their second game in Vegas with the third-best defensive efficiency in the always-talented Ohio Athletic Conference. First-year head coach Jon Tropf’s squad never relented, even after UMHB extended the gap to 15, 49-34, on Cam Stinson’s fastbreak score with 13:20 left. The Polar Bears, perhaps drawing on experience after erasing Amherst’s five-point second half lead in a 78-62 win the night before, kept chipping away, forcing The Cru to dig deep inside an unfamiliar venue against a quality opponent.
“I think it was their style of play that really affected our offense,” Patterson said of ONU’s defense, which held UMHB to a 4-of-14 evening from beyond the 3-point arc. “Defensively, the way they switched off the ball [was a challenge]. They’re a well-coached team. They know what they want to do and how they want to play.”
UMHB built its 32-23 halftime lead behind a quality defensive effort of its own in the first 20 minutes. The Cru opened on an 8-2 run, getting four straight scores in the paint from Connor Zamiara, Donta Coady, and Elijah Lawrence, but on the other end, limited ONU to just one made shot in its first nine. The Polar Bears went just 10-of-41 from the field in the opening half, including 3-of-20 from 3-point range, and that aspect helped UMHB create separation, even as The Cru posted its lowest-scoring first half in the last five games.
The defensive intensity carried into the second half as well, with the Crusaders forcing plenty of difficult shots. ONU finished the contest 8-of-39 from 3 with just 20 points in the paint.
“I thought it was one of the best defensive games we’ve had all year,” Patterson noted. “We did have time to prep, and anytime you have multiple days to prep for an opponent, it helps. Our first-shot defense was really good with understanding personnel, and I thought our guys were locked in.”
That said, Patterson went into halftime looking for more from his team, primarily in two specific areas: turnovers and opponent offensive rebounds. Both numbers were far too high, with UMHB turning it over 11 times and outrebounded 11-2 on the offensive glass. The second stat was particularly surprising from a team that came into Monday ranked No. 3 nationally in offensive rebounds per game.
“I’m pretty even-keeled, but those two areas got me a little more fired up at halftime, just based on the fact that this is our identity,” Patterson said. “We’re a team that should be dominating the glass. But I thought our guys responded well.”
ONU ended up with 20 offensive rebounds, but just nine second-chance points as UMHB defended well for the most part, even after the Polar Bears extended those possessions. The Crusaders cleaned up the turnover issue too, with just six in the second half. UMHB won the battle on the boards, 48-46, even with The Cru’s second-lowest offensive rebounding total of the season (9).
“Most of our turnovers were ballhanding turnovers,” Patterson added. “They weren’t decision-making or passing turnovers. A lot of them were just travels, or carries, or fumbling the ball. Those things can be corrected. We knew Ohio Northern thrives off of creating turnovers with their style of defense, so being able to take care of the ball in that second half gave us a chance to win at the end.”
Limiting turnovers will yet again be a priority on Tuesday night, as UMHB clashes with 11th-ranked Redlands in an 8 p.m. CT showdown. The Bulldogs, who knocked off MSOE, 102-82, on Monday, come in with an 8-1 record that includes ranked wins over No. 13 Roanoke and No. 16 Hampden-Sydney. Known for its up-tempo style, Redlands is averaging 95.8 points per game and has an offense ranked No. 13 nationally in efficiency. The Bulldogs also force 20.4 turnovers per game, and have scored 23.4 points per game as a result of those takeaways.
Not only will this be the highest-ranked opponent UMHB has faced, but it also marks the first time the Crusaders are playing on consecutive days this season. The quick turnaround with a fast-paced, high-quality opponent waiting on the other side adds another element that the visitors from Belton will need to contend with if they want a chance at going 2-0 in Vegas.
“The message is very simple,” Patterson said, when asked about the Redlands matchup. “If we want to give ourselves the best chance to win tomorrow, the preparation started as soon as the game ended tonight. That goes into, can you win your recovery? Can you win your hydration? Can you with sleep? Can you win with eating properly? All that plays into how we perform tomorrow. And we have to win those areas if we want a chance to win in the game.”
Patterson added that UMHB intentionally sought out the opportunity to play in a back-to-back format because of the preparation it provides. The Cru has ASC title aspirations, and capturing the league tournament championship requires putting together wins on two consecutive days in competitive matchups. Making a run in the NCAA Tournament demands the same sort of back-to-back performances with limited rest between.
“We scheduled this tournament intentionally because of the back-to-back,” Patterson said. “If we want to cut down nets at the end of February, we’re going to have to win two games in two days. That’s been the message this whole tournament, this whole road trip. This is preparation for doing it at the end of the season. We have to experience it, learn, and do what’s necessary now so we can try to replicate that—or at least learn from it—in February.”
Tuesday’s duel against Redlands will be streamed live on the D3hoops.com YouTube channel with an 8 p.m. CT tip-off. It will be the second time in program history that The Cru and Bulldogs have met, with the first coming in a 92-82 UMHB win on Nov. 9, 2022.
UMHB Stat Leaders
Points: Hudson Johnson (21), Zach Engels (16), Elijah Lawrence (10)
Rebounds: Zach Engels (12), Grant Jessen (8), Connor Zamiara (7)
Assists: Elijah Lawrence (4), Grant Jessen (3), Zach Engels (2), Cam Stinson (2)
