BELTON — The odds were stacked against UMHB plenty of times on Tuesday night.
There was the 15-point deficit with 5:52 left in the first half. The 10-point hole with 5:37 to go in regulation. The point when The Cru was forced to foul Hardin-Simmons point guard Silas Davis—an 86.6% free throw shooter—down three with 7.8 seconds remaining in the second half.
But all season long, this hasn’t been a Crusader team that concerns itself with perceived improbabilities. They showed why in front of a packed crowd at the Mayborn Campus Center in a thrilling, come-from-behind 93-90 win over ASC rival Hardin-Simmons.
Despite never leading at any point in regulation, UMHB (17-6, 4-0 ASC) found a way in a high-stakes battle for sole possession of first place in the ASC, shooting 6-of-9 from the field in overtime to snap HSU’s (14-9, 3-1 ASC) six-game win streak in a down-to-the-wire finish. For the second-straight game, UMHB found itself forced to battle in overtime on its home floor. And just as The Cru did Saturday against ETBU, they extended their perfect start to conference play, now sitting at a perfect 4-0 with two regular season games left.
“We’ve been down in games on the road at Whitworth and Redlands that we had no business coming back in, and it’s that experience you can lean on in times like this,” UMHB head coach Sam Patterson said afterwards. “We want a positive, energetic culture, because I do think all that is contagious. Guys just start believing.”
Even after cutting into HSU’s double-digit lead over the final 5 1/2 minutes of the second half, UMHB still found itself in a precarious position with time running out at the end of regulation. Matthew Alexander—who had 16 points for HSU—sank a pair of free throws to extend the Cowboys’ lead to 78-73 with 18.4 seconds to go, making it a two-possession game.
Rather than wasting time looking for a 3-point shot, UMHB’s Zach Engels drove inside for a layup, cutting the deficit back to three with 10 seconds left. The Cru immediately fouled Davis as he caught the inbounds pass, forced to do so with limited time to work with even with the Houston native being one of HSU’s most consistent free throw shooters.
But the front end of Davis’ one-and-one missed—only his seventh miss in 46 attempts this season—and Hudson Johnson grabbed the rebound, racing into the frontcourt with the clock ticking down and the home fans on the edge of their seats. The senior, ranked No. 15 in D-III in 3-pointers per game, quickly stopped on a dime, stepped back, and launched a deep 3 over Alexander’s outstretched arm from the Crusader logo covering midcourt. Swish.
The crowd erupted as his shot fell through the net. He followed it up by intercepting HSU’s deep pass to midcourt, sending the game into overtime knotted at 78-78. Just four days after being held scoreless in 30 minutes against ETBU, Johnson finished with 17 points, including a trio of 3s.
“Hudson made that big three at the end of regulation, and then he had another big three in overtime,” Patterson said. “So for him to battle through coming off a game where he didn’t play his best, that’s the Hudson we all know.”
From that point on, the momentum seemed firmly on UMHB’s side. The emotion of Johnson’s game-tying 3 carried into the extra five-minute period, as The Cru finally claimed its first lead of the contest with 1:49 left when Donta Coady tipped back a missed 3 to go up 86-85.
The Cru never trailed again, outscoring HSU, 15-12, in overtime. Coady hit two free throws with 1:12 left, and an offensive foul against the Cowboys followed, building the energy as the Crusaders’ emotion was on full display. They carried that into another timely 3 from Johnson, putting The Cru up 91-86.
But the victory didn’t end there. Trevion Howell connected on a 3 for HSU with 39.4 seconds left, pulling the Cowboys back within two, and UMHB turnover left the door wide open for the visitors from Abilene. Alexander got to the free throw line for the third time in the evening with 5.3 seconds to go, but only went 1-of-2, keeping The Cru’s lead at a single point.
Rather than let HSU foul and keep more time on the clock, Lawrence caught the ensuing inbounds pass and lofted a deep pass to Connor Zamiara ahead of the defense for an uncontested, game-sealing layup on the other end, a fitting finish to a duel that saw UMHB lead for all of 1 minute, 45 seconds, but come away on top.
“We knew we were going to continue to fight for the whole game,” Patterson said. “Our guys just battled through, played the long game with the fouling and the free throws, and made the right plays at the end of the game. We’ve been dealing with some injuries and sickness this last week, and we’ve got a really tough locker room in there that battled through some adversity to lay everything on the floor.”
That included the starting five of Johnson, Engels, Zamiara, Lawrence, and Coady, who each played at least 32 minutes and collectively accounted for all but 14 of UMHB’s 93 points. They were on the floor together for the final 5:16 of regulation and all five minutes of overtime, answering the call in the game’s most crucial moments.
It marked the first time in 23 games this season that four starters scored above 17 points apiece, with Lawrence (19), Coady (19), and Engels (18) joining Johnson in double figures. For his part, Zamiara had six points and nine rebounds, highlighted by the layup just before the buzzer in OT.
Coady, a 6-foot-5 forward, was particularly impressive, keeping UMHB within reach even when The Cru weathered a first-half storm of shooting just 37.5%. The Arlington, Texas native stopped HSU’s game-opening 7-0 run with a 3-pointer at the 16:15 mark, snapping UMHB’s drought of six straight scoreless possessions. Less than two minutes later, he positioned himself in the paint and scored on a layup through contact, pulling The Cru within two points of the lead. With 7:54 until halftime, Coady provided the putback on a missed 3, cutting the deficit back to single digits, and five minutes later, hit a 3 of his own after HSU went up by 12.
It added up to a 10-point first half for the senior during a 20-minute stretch when no other Crusader scored more than five. That was in addition to his team-high five rebounds in 15 minutes of action.
“If I were to look up ‘dependable’, I’d see his picture in the dictionary,” Patterson said of Coady, who posted a 19-point, 12-rebound double-double. “You just know what you’re getting from him every single time he steps on the court. He takes big shots, he makes big shots, and he steadies us when other guys aren’t making shots.”
Coady paced UMHB’s early effort, but HSU came to Belton looking to make a statement. The Cowboys got the same level of offensive balance in the first half that The Cru found late in the second half, with four players scoring at least six points in the opening 20 minutes. After UMHB cut the deficit to 20-15 on Grant Jessen’s 3, HSU answered right back with back-to-back 3s from Davis and Howell, showing off the Cowboys’ long-range shooting ability.
The lead swelled to 11 in less than 40 seconds, and eventually widened to 15 when 6-foot-11 post Myles Amason scored the last of his eight first-half points with 5:52 left. HSU led by at least three possessions for the final 9:35, as The Cru trailed by double-digits at multiple points before going into the break down 40-32 thanks to Johnson’s 3 with 1:10 to go.
The shooting percentages and turnover numbers largely told the story of the first half. HSU shot 51.4% to UMHB’s 38.7%, and the Cowboys scored 10 points off seven Crusader turnovers, capitalizing on their defensive pressure in the halfcourt.
“I think they got out to a more aggressive start on rebounding, but really the first half was a lot on our turnovers that led to easy baskets in the first half,” Patterson noted.
HSU’s physical style of play was present all night, with the Cowboys both initiating and drawing contact and keeping consistent pressure on UMHB’s ballhandlers. It was something The Cru was prepared for, but had trouble countering at times in the first half. As the game went on, UMHB stepped up in that department, winning the rebounding battle, 26-23, over the second half and OT, helping to close the gap.
“They’re definitely a really physical team, and they crash [to the glass] aggressively, just like we do,” Patterson said. “It’s a just matchup for fans that like to see that style of basketball where it’s kind of a rock fight when the shot goes up. I thought our guys competed every time the shot went up. We had a few 50-50 calls that didn’t go our way on loose balls and offensive rebounding. So for us, it’s just cleaning up those details, making sure we’re blocking out and holding our blockouts, because they do have really aggressive guys flying in there to get the rebounds.”
HSU’s Tyler Williams was effective for the Cowboys all night, and scored the first points of the second half when he received a pass off a UMHB turnover in the backcourt, slamming down a two-handed dunk. But The Cru answered with plenty of resolve, playing up to its usual second-half standard.
Zach Engels scored five of UMHB’s first seven points before Johnson got a driving layup to fall, giving The Cru points on three of its last four possessions to that point, whittling the Cowboy lead to 48-44. Then it was Lawrence’s turn. The senior guard—who scored 16 of his 19 points in the second half—pulled The Cru within two on a layup before he came up with a steal on HSU’s ensuing possession, creating a fast-break opportunity that ended up with Jessen at the foul line, where he made both free throws, tying the score at 48 apiece.
On a night when the Crusader bench was fairly limited in its offensive production, Jessen stepped up, scoring 14 points in 19 minutes. The junior knocked down all six free throws he attempted and converted on three of his five field-goal attempts, giving quality minutes in both halves. That included a momentum-building block from behind in the first half, when he chased down Alexander on a fast-break, and a dunk midway through the second half.
By the time Jessen slammed the ball down with 7:39 left in regulation, HSU had re-extended its lead to three possessions, 66-59. Each time UMHB gained ground, the Cowboys seemingly responded to remain in control. Amason used his size to his advantage in the paint, scoring a season-high 24 points, and Davis, Alexander, and Williams each found ways to score from short-range despite HSU shooting just 1-of-6 from 3-point range in the half.
“They are really good at putting their players in position to play to their strengths,” Patterson said. “They’re not flashy. They’re not crazy with what they run. But they’re solid, and they say, ‘Our best player loves the left block, we’re going to find a way to get him the ball on the left block.’”
HSU held its ground until the 5:19 mark, when Jessen hit a 3 from the left wing, pulling UMHB within seven. It sparked a 10-2 run for the hosts, capped by Lawrence’s 3 with 2:47 left. Amason was a tough matchup all night, and scored the game’s next four points, but Lawrence connected from long-range yet again with 1:42 to go, setting up the thrilling finish to regulation and the overtime that followed.
And yet for all the excitement of the game itself, in the back of everyone’s mind in both locker rooms there was an understanding that it was only Round 1. The Cru and the Cowboys will meet again on Saturday at 3 p.m. in Abilene, with the rematch deciding the ASC regular season champion. Either UMHB wins and claims the title outright, or HSU wins, and it is decided on tiebreakers in the case that both win their regular season finales against Howard Payne and ETBU, respectively.
It will be the third time since the 2022-23 season that UMHB and HSU have met twice in the span of seven days.
“They’re going to have adjustments on Saturday, and so we’re going to have adjustments as well,” Patterson said. “It’s that chess match back and forth.
“I think when two teams are so evenly matched, it comes down to a game of details; who is better in the details and the small areas of the game. There’s some areas we can improve in, and I’m sure they’re feeling the same way.”
Update: In the event that UMHB and HSU were to both finish the regular season tied at 5-1 (with a 1-1 record against each other), the tiebreaker would be the point differential between the two. With UMHB winning by three on Tuesday, an HSU win by two points or less would give the tiebreaker to UMHB, but an HSU win by four points or more would favor the Cowboys. A three-point HSU win would then push it to a fourth tiebreaker: each team’s point differential against the No. 3 team in the ASC (currently ETBU). Currently, HSU is +10 against ETBU (12-point win but ASC caps at 10) with one game remaining against the Tigers. UMHB is +12 against ETBU (9-point win and 3-point win). However, ETBU and Howard Payne still have to play on Saturday, where an HPU win could change that scenario.
