BELTON — Zach Engels scored 21 points, Elijah Lawrence hit four 3-pointers, and UMHB men’s basketball grabbed the second-most rebounds in a single game in program history, keeping its winning ways going in a 103-62 win over the College of Biblical Studies on Wednesday night.
UMHB (11-5) dominated the glass for the second straight game, outrebounding the Ambassadors (2-17) by 33. The Cru’s 66 rebounds were one shy of tying the single-game program record set against Howard Payne during the 2023-24 season, as Donta Coady and Noah Curry pulled down seven boards apiece.
That included a season-high 24 offensive rebounds, which produced 28 second-chance points, as the Crusaders consistently attacked the glass off missed shots. UMHB hit two 3s in the final five minutes of the first half as the result of offensive rebounds, bookending a 19-2 run that gave the hosts a commanding 53-18 halftime lead.
With the win, Sam Patterson’s squad raised its record to 11-5, emerging victorious inside the Mayborn Campus Center for the fifth time this season. The victory will not count towards UMHB’s standing in the NCAA Power Index, as CBS is a non-D3 (the Ambassadors are members of the National Christian Collegiate Athletic Association), but coming up with such a dominant effort two days after downing LeTourneau added to the Crusaders’ building confidence as American Southwest Conference play nears. The Cru has won seven of its last eight, eclipsing the century mark three times in that stretch. Taking Wednesday’s result into account, UMHB is averaging 90.2 points per game.
The scoring came from a wide variety of contributors as the gap widened to as many as 45 points with 8:43 left. 17 Crusaders had a part in UMHB’s fourth-largest offensive output of the season, with Engels, Lawrence, and Stinson leading the way in double figures. Beyond that trio, sophomore Josiah Wray shot 4-of-5 from the field with six rebounds, Jeremiah Parquet made 2 of his 3 shots for a five-point night, and Rece Black attempted—and converted—the first 3-pointer of his two-year collegiate career late in the second half.
Even more notably, UMHB tallied 20-plus assists for the fourth time in 2025-26, assisting on 21 of its 38 made field goals. Much like its scoring, the Crusaders’ assist total was split fairly even between both halves, as they dished out 11 in the first and 10 in the second. Six of UMHB’s seven made shots in the 22-2 run over the last six minutes of the first half were assisted, as The Cru stretched a 17-point lead to 37.
CBS, who came into the matchup with nearly half of its first 18 games being against Divison I opponents, kept it tight through the first 10 minutes, responding after UMHB secured an 8-2 lead three minutes in.
Sparked by Kendall Hamilton’s 3-pointer, the Ambassadors pulled within five, 16-11, by the 12:59 mark, going 3-of-5 from the field in that span. But UMHB stepped up on the defensive end, an area overshadowed at times this season with the Crusaders’ efficiency on the offense. After the LETU win, Patterson said he felt his team was making strides defensively, and that showed up in the middle portion of the half, as CBS missed nine straight shots and turned it over seven times in a six-minute scoring drought. The Cru went 6-of-6 at the free throw line in the meantime, and pushed its lead to 31-11 on a Zach May 3-pointer with 8:08 until the intermission.
Once UMHB went on its 16-3 run over the final 3:33 of the first half, there was no question that the Crusaders were coasting to a one-sided victory in front of their home crowd. They made five of their last six shots heading into halftime, and came out of the locker room with a similarly strong offensive stretch, shooting 5-of-6 with 11 points from Lawrence between the 19:00 and 16:20 marks. Lawrence opened the run with a layup and capped it with his third 3 of the evening, widening the advantage to 67-28.
CBS found traction as the second half went on and UMHB went deeper into its bench, though the Ambassadors were held to just 40 points through the game’s first 30 minutes. The visitors from Houston ended up with a 43-point half, but The Cru still outscored them by seven, putting 50 points on the board in the second half for the third time in the last four games. UMHB shot 55.6 percent from the field over the last 20 minutes, and went 7-of-16 from beyond the arc.
The Cru closes its four-game homestand on Saturday with a 2 p.m. duel against Dallas Christian College (4-11) in Belton. DCC has wins over NAIA Huston-Tillotson, UNT-Dallas, D3 Southwestern, and Southeastern Baptist, while also having led Concordia (TX) at the half of a 119-96 loss on Nov. 10. DCC is the last of UMHB’s three non-D3 opponents in the regular season, and Saturday will mark The Cru’s final non-conference home game of 2025-26.
