Photo by Luke Zayas/Backwards Hat Media
BELTON — LeTourneau may no longer be one of UMHB men’s basketball’s American Southwest Conference opponents, but with the familiarity at play in Monday night’s duel, it certainly gave the feeling of being a high-level conference showdown.
And that’s exactly how UMHB head coach Sam Patterson wanted his team to view it.
Facing the Yellowjackets for the second time this season and the fifth time in 12 months, Patterson’s squad responded to its November loss in Longview with an 88-85 win in Belton, out-rebounding LETU (7-4, 2-0 SCAC) by 18 and coming up with a key defensive stop in the final 10 seconds, as its win total reached double-digits.
“I told them in the locker room, it felt like a conference game,” Patterson said afterwards, his team now 10-5 overall. “If you’re expecting to win by double digits in conference, you haven’t been around college basketball very long. Because at this point in the season, especially with a team you’re playing a second time, they’re going to scout heavy. They know our guys, and we know them. So then it comes down to execution and detail.”
After a pair of free throws from Hudson Johnson extended the Crusader lead to three, LETU took possession with 20 seconds left, searching for a game-tying shot from beyond the arc. But The Cru defended tightly in an intense finish, heavily contesting the Yellowjackets’ first two 3-point attempts before Donta Coady flew towards LETU’s David Martinez in the left corner—his left hand outstretched—to affect a third long-range attempt that was off the mark at the buzzer.
Despite LETU’s 15 3s on the night, the Crusaders stepped up when their defensive effort was needed most, sealing the win not by their scoring but by remaining aggressive against a potent offense for one final 20-second possession.
The victory marked UMHB’s sixth-straight over LETU inside the Mayborn Campus Center as The Cru bounced back from Saturday’s one-point loss to Concordia, handling the 48-hour turnaround well against yet another former ASC foe. LETU is in its first season in the SCAC after 27 years in the ASC.
“I thought they responded well from Concordia,” Patterson said. “I don’t think anybody on our team had a good game against Concordia individually. Hudson scored well, but I thought he had some uncharacteristic turnovers. So I was excited we got a chance to play 48 hours after that game, because I know I was itching [to get back on the court]. To simulate a conference game and be able to win a close game at home is great for our guys.”
Matched up with a similar guard-heavy roster, UMHB’s rebounding prowess stood out in an especially large way, as The Cru won the battle on the boards, 47-29, and pulled down 17 offensive rebounds to LETU’s five, two of which came in the last seven seconds. UMHB finished +10 or better in the rebounding column for the seventh time this season, paced by 14 from Zach Engels, seven from Coady, and six more from Grant Jessen. Of the nine Crusaders who logged three minutes or more, eight had at least one rebound.
“Our guys are willing to try whatever it takes to win,” Patterson said postgame. “That’s all we can ask of them. We’ve got a really selfless group that gives a ton of high effort. I said to them, ‘Have we ever done a loose ball drill in practice?’ The answer is no. I’m not concerned about their effort. Their effort game in and game out is at its max. You see that in the rebounding side of things. When we can hold them to one shot and dominate the glass, our defense is going to thrive under that.”
LETU tallied just one offensive rebound in the first half and scored zero second-chance points across both halves, with UMHB’s defense generally limiting the Yellowjackets to a single shot per possession. It was a completely different dynamic on the other end of the floor, where The Cru—who rank in the 94th percentile nationally in offensive rebound percentage per CBB Analytics—tallied 19 second-chance points in the first 20 minutes alone.
The first of those came with 12:35 left in the half, when Jessen grabbed an offensive rebound on an Engels miss, with the ball soon ending up back with Engels, who promptly knocked down a 3. Just over a minute later, Jessen pulled down another rebound that kept the possession alive, with Johnson driving to the lane for a layup and a 21-12 lead. Jessen’s two key offensive boards helped fuel a 10-0 run that took UMHB from a one-point deficit to its largest lead of the night up to that point.
Five minutes later, after LETU pulled back within three, the second-chance scoring flared up again for the hosts. Connor Zamiara tallied an offensive rebound and without hesitation, kicked to Elijah Lawrence on the left wing for an open 3. On the next trip down the floor, Coady leapt up and secured a rebound of his own, finding Lawrence again beyond the arc.
The senior guard’s two 3s pushed the lead out to 33-25 with 6:59 left, and LETU never got closer than a five-point margin before the break. UMHB’s advantage twice widened to 10 down the stretch of the opening half, first on a Johnson layup with 3:33 to go and then on his free throw less than a minute later.
Teigan Edwards scored LETU’s final 10 points of the first half, hitting a pair of 3s in the final stretch, as the UMHB lead was cut to 49-43. But Cam Stinson gave The Cru the final scoring play going into halftime, juking past two Yellowjacket defenders before connecting on a jumper for a 51-43 edge. It marked UMHB’s third 50-point first half of the season, and the first since beating Belhaven on Nov. 22, 2025.
Johnson and Engels were The Cru’s leading offensive catalysts through the first 20 minutes, with 13 and 11 points apiece, respectively. And in the opening five minutes of the second half, the senior duo led the way again, combining to score UMHB’s first 12 points.
Johnson had eight of his team-leading 28 points in that stretch, hitting a 3 with 15:24 left for The Cru’s largest lead of the evening, 63-52. UMHB outscored LETU by 14 when Engels was on the floor, as the Austin native tallied his second double-double of the season with 19 points and 14 rebounds.
But LETU had just as much firepower from its own scorers, and worked back into the game as the clock dipped below 10 minutes. Engels gave UMHB a 10-point lead at the free throw line with 9:50 left, but in just two trips down the floor, the Yellowjackets cut the double-digit advantage to four when Jackson Mayes and Branson Lynn sank 3s just 25 seconds apart.
The Cru found breathing room on a pair of free throws from Lawrence, but Mayes—who led LETU with 23 points on 7-of-12 shooting—hit a jumper that pulled the visitors from Longview back within four. Johnson then pushed the lead back to seven but LETU countered with five unanswered points, capped by an “and one” from Mayes, who was fouled while driving for a layup. That pattern persisted over the game’s final eight minutes, as LETU never took the lead, but kept UMHB within arm’s length.
“I felt like there were stretches where we were up seven and I would’ve liked to have pushed it to 10, 12, 14,” Patterson said. “But credit to LeTourneau. They answered our runs. To make 15 3s and lose is tough, because usually the recipe for an upset on the road is 10 or more made 3s and a high turnover game.
“We didn’t do great with the ball, but we were average. We knew defending the 3 was going to be important, and credit to their guysd, they made some shots with hands in their faces. We can only expect to contest every shot.”
LETU certainly made its share of difficult shots to stay in it, though UMHB always seemed to find an answer offensively when the Yellowjackets pulled close. When they cut the Crusader lead to 76-74, Zamiara drew a foul and made both free throws as part of a solid 21-of-26 day at the charity stripe as a team. When LETU got it to 84-81 with 1:53 left, Coady caught a pass from Hudson just inside the 3-point line with a single second remaining on the shot clock. With no time to set his feet, Coady put up a rushed, off-balance shot that miraculously fell through, garnering a roar from the home crowd as UMHB pushed its advantage to five.
And finally, when Mayes converted on his fourth 3-pointer of the night with 31.4 seconds to go, bringing LETU within one point of tying the score, Johnson answered with a pair of free throws on the other end. The senior was 9-of-9 at the line in the contest, and those two free throws put the pressure on the Yellowjackets heading into the game’s last possession, where UMHB ultimately came up with its game-ending defensive stop.
Even with an unusally low-scoring second-half—UMHB came in averaging 51 points in the second half but had just 37 against LETU—the Crusaders made enough shots to maintain their lead. LETU led for all of 18 seconds on Monday night, while UMHB stayed in front for 37:09. Patterson’s squad overcame a 9-of-28 shooting mark in the second half with near-flawless consistency at the free throw line, going 16-of-18.
The Cru’s four-game home week continues Wednesday night, when the College of Biblical Studies comes to Belton for a 7 p.m. contest. CBS, an NCCAA program out of Houston, is 2-16 against a wide range of opponents that includes Division I Sam Houston State, Division II Texas A&M-Kingsville, Division III St. Thomas (TX), and NAIAs Texas College and Paul Quinn College. Marquice Scott comes in as the Ambassadors’ leading scorer, with 19 points at Sam Houston State on Dec. 28 and 16.6 per game this season.
UMHB Stat Leaders
Points: Hudson Johnson (28), Zach Engels (19), Elijah Lawrence (14)
Rebounds: Zach Engels (14), Donta Coady (7), Grant Jessen (6)
Assists: Zach Engels (4), Donta Coady (3)
Steals: Hudson Johnson (4), Zach Engels (2), Grant Jessen (2)
One Reply to “UMHB men’s basketball dominates on the glass, Wins tightly-contested rematch with LeTourneau”