Photo by Luke Zayas/True To The Cru/Backwards Hat Media
BELTON — UMHB entered Saturday’s duel at the Mayborn Campus Center as an improved team from the one that beat Concordia three weeks earlier in Austin. The Cru had played three games in the meantime, winning all three, including a defeat of No. 11 Redlands in Las Vegas.
But Concordia (8-2, 1-0 SCAC) had also made strides in its season-long development, and with a fine-tuned full-court press, turned UMHB (9-5, 0-0 ASC) over 27 times in front of a sizable crowd at the Mayborn Campus Center.
Those 27 turnovers produced 33 points, the majority of which came in transition, paving the way to the Tornados’ 92-91 road win. It marked Concordia’s first win in Belton since Jan. 8, 2021.
UMHB forced a turnover of its own near midcourt and had a shot to take the lead in the game’s final five seconds but was unable to convert. A shooting foul whistled on Concordia as Donta Coady went up for a buzzer-beating layup was waved off, after it was determined the whistle came after time expired.
“We knew it would come down to turnovers,” UMHB head coach Sam Patterson said postgame. “I thought the first four minutes of the game and the last four minutes of the game were how we wanted to handle the press. We just wanted to get a shot up every possession because we felt comfortable with our offensive rebounding and our ability to score.
“But credit to Concordia. They play the way that [head coach] Stan [Bonewitz] wants them playing, and they play hard. They force you to speed it up. I thought for about 30 minutes of the game we played into their gameplan, and for about 10 minutes of the game we were able to execute our gameplan.”
Those 10 minutes saw UMHB open on a commanding 12-2 run and close by scoring 12 of the game’s final 17 points. But in between, CTX outscored The Cru, 85-67, utilizing its trademark press to trap UMHB’s ballhandlers in the backcourt, force poorly-timed passes, and create deflections on the defensive end that turned into steals and led to fast-break layups.
The Crusaders’ turnover total was a season-high, three more than they had in the Dec. 14 meeting against Concordia, as the Tornados’ finished +9 in turnover margin. While UMHB had shown poise against the press five days prior against Redlands, turning it over just 12 times, the styles of defensive pressure they faced in the two games were noticeably different.
“Redlands doesn’t trap as much as they run and jump and try to speed you up,” Patterson noted. “Concordia does a good job of trapping, so you’re going to feel two guys on you. And being able to make a play when there’s two guys on you is how you have to play against Concordia.”
The Cru did a solid job of that at times, including the opening minutes, turning it over only once before the under-16 media timeout. After CTX’s Joey Ramirez—the nation’s leading scorer at 27.7 points per game—put the Tornados on the board with 19:12 in the first half, UMHB quickly responded behind a Connor Zamiara layup and a 3-pointer from Hudson Johnson. Even with the game being played almost exclusively in transition, UMHB stayed controlled, forcing Bonewitz to call timeout less than three minutes in after the lead swelled to 10-2.
But CTX settled in soon enough, and provided a rebuttal as the first half carried on, starting with Percy Green’s right-handed dunk along the baseline with 14:42 to go. The Tornados kept the pace high and drove hard at the rim—a theme that persisted into the second half—piecing together a 10-0 run that tied the score at 12 apiece two minutes after Green’s dunk.
Considering UMHB’s second-half prowess, Concordia’s first-half performance proved key in the long run. While the margin stayed within three for the next three minutes, the Tornados took control in a four-possession stretch that shifted the outlook.
After Hudson Johnson tied it up for the third time with a pair of free throws, Ramirez drove into the paint, pulling three defenders to the ball as he leapt into the air. He dished a quick pass to Jaiden Gastille a couple feet away, and Gastille’s layup over Coady’s outstretched right arm put CTX back in the lead.
Gastille soon added to the advantage with a 3 on the Tornados’ ensuing possession, and Ramirez followed with a long jumper before coming up with a steal a few seconds later, corralling a pass from Grant Jessen that was just too far in front of Elijah Lawrence. Aaron San Miguel ended up at the free throw line, where the senior point guard gave the visitors from Austin a 31-23 advantage, the entire run having played out in a little more than 90 seconds.
CTX maintained its lead until halftime, with UMHB twice pulling within two, but never closer. Johnson cut the deficit to five with 3:04 left, but The Cru went the remainder of the half without a field goal, turning it over five times. The Tornados capitalized from there, closing on a 9-1 run capped by San Miguel’s driving layup with three seconds to go.
But even down 53-40 at halftime with 18 turnovers, UMHB remained optimistic. Averaging 51 points in the second half through their first 13 games, the scoring capability was there to close strong. But it wasn’t so much about scoring as it was coming up with defensive stops and cutting down on the turnovers.
The first time they played CTX, they reduced their turnovers by four in the second half, from 14 to 10. As it turned out, they were even better doing that the second time around, with just nine turnovers over the final 20 minutes. It gave The Cru a chance down the stretch, eventually pulling back within single digits after the Tornado lead widened to 18 with 14:21 left.
It took time to narrow the deficit, however. With 6:46 left, CTX still led by 15 when Ramirez scored again in transition after Tremayne Johnson’s steal, adding to the Tornados’ 27 fast-break points. But UMHB had proven it could play just as fast, lofting a multitude of deep passes into the frontcourt off defensive rebounds and baseline inbounds passes over the course of the afternoon. They did so again after Ramirez’s layup, with Lawrence catching the inbounds pass on the run before firing a pass along the sideline to Zamiara in the right corner. Zamiara immediately sent a cross-court pass to Johnson on the opposite wing, setting up the fourth of Johnson’s six 3s.
That long-range score from the nation’s leader in made 3-pointers sparked an 8-0 run capped by yet another Johnson 3-pointer. One possession later, Lawrence countered a layup from Green with a 3 of his own, narrowing the CTX lead to 85-79 with 4:58 left.
While the Crusaders were an uncharacteristic 3-of-15 from beyond the arc in the first half, they found a rhythm when they needed it most in the closing minutes. With 3:01, Johnson connected from 3-point range on an off-balance shot in front of the UMHB bench, pulling The Cru within five. Exactly two minutes later, Lawrence stepped up with another one of his own, bringing the hosts within two, 91-89.
CTX went the final 1:55 without a made field goal, and scored only a single point in that span—a free throw from Martin with 33 seconds remaining—while also turning it over twice. After Martin missed his second free throw, Johnson grabbed the rebound and got down the floor quickly, dribbling between two Tornado defenders and around another. With CTX locking down the perimeter, he took a handoff from Lawrence and went straight to the rim, opting for the quick points on a layup with 20.4 seconds left.
The Cru chose not to foul immediately when Ramirez received the inbounds pass, even as the shot clock was turned off with CTX leading 92-91. It worked in their favor, as Ramirez, trapped near the sideline by Johnson and Coady, threw a pass in the direction of Anariss Brandon that was picked off by Lawrence. The ball found its way back to Lawrence with four seconds left, and he fired up a 3 that ended up just off the mark. Green initally grabbed the rebound for CTX, but threw it backwards as he fell out of bounds, straight to Coady, who went right back up for a layup.
The putback off the glass missed, but the officials initially called a shooting foul, giving The Cru hope in its comeback bid. Both teams, along with the crowd, waited through minutes of quiet suspense as the three-man officiating crew reviewed the final play countless times on a courtside monitor. In the end, replay review determined the foul came after the buzzer. Game over.
Concordia emphatically celebrated its second road win of the season when the foul was waved off while UMHB looked on, somewhat stunned after having the momentum in the final minute. The Crusaders’ comeback bid came up one point short, forcing them to wait a little longer to notch their 10th win.
But in the end, they gave themselves a chance, once again putting together a second half to be proud of. Patterson’s squad outscored the Tornados, 51-39, over the final 20 minutes, with the defensive effort showing up as they closed the gap. It marked the first time in 10 games this season that Concordia was held below 40 points in a second half.
“Offensively, you know you’re going to be able to put points on the board against Concordia,” Patterson said. “It’s a matter of, can you handle the pressure and not give them freebies off your turnovers and mistakes? I thought the guys shot the ball well. Hudson is in a good hot streak right now. But to me, it was more about the defensive side of the ball.”
On the offensive end, Johnson set a new season-high with 34 points, shooting an impressive 11-of-16 from the field and 6-of-8 from beyond the arc. The senior guard added seven rebounds and tied with Lawrence for the team-high in assists, with four.
Coady, whose athleticism and 6’5 frame helped The Cru contain Concordia down the stretch, played a career-high 31 minutes, recording his first double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Four of his 11 rebounds came on the offensive end, in addition to two blocks on the defensive end.
Lawrence added 14 points highlighted by his key 3s in the second half and Zamiara finished one rebound shy of a double-double with 12 points and nine boards.
Saturday’s contest opened a busy week for The Cru, who will play four home games in a seven-day span. That includes Monday’s 7 p.m. duel against LeTourneau, who handed UMHB a loss back on Nov. 13 in Longview and will bring a three-game win streak to Belton.
It doesn’t leave much time to think about the “What Ifs” from the way Saturday played out. Instead, they’ll look to do what they did in each of the four losses that came before, all of which were also decided by single digits: learn and move forwards. UMHB is 3-1 following a loss this season.
“We have to learn from this and be able to place a monument mentally at this juncture in the season to reflect back on and understand what this feels like so we hopefully won’t experience it again,” Patterson said. “That was my message in the locker room. You want to reflect on it and understand the value of it. But at the same time, you want to move on, because LeTourneau is different from Concordia. We’re always trying to build and continue to grow.”
