UMHB got a season-high 21 points from Jason Wagner and played through a frantic LeTourneau rally and bizarre finish as the seventh-ranked Crusaders held off the Yellowjackets 74-73 Thursday night at Mayborn Campus Center.
It was the 16th straight home victory for UMHB (8-1 overall, 5-0 American Southwest Conference), which hasn’t lost at Mayborn Campus Center since a 78-70 setback to Texas-Dallas on Dec. 5, 2006.
“I don’t know why we’ve been able to win so many at home,” UMHB coach Ken DeWeese said. “But I’m glad we have.”
Wagner poured in 16 of his points in the first half, and the Crusaders were in control, up 62-50 with just less than 12 minutes remaining.
Then things started to unravel.
UMHB went cold on the offensive end - posting only two points in span of exactly eight minutes - and LeTourneau (6-4, 4-2) mounted its comeback.
Dewones Smith, who had a team-high 19 points, hit two 3-pointers and a mid-range jumper to spark a Yellowjackets surge that cut the gap to 64-62 with 5:22 remaining.
Wagner nailed his third 3 and Ryan Burgart dunked off an assist from Matt Caskey as the Crusaders built a 72-64 cushion with 2:22 left before LeTourneau turned three UMHB turnovers into a 7-0 run.
Wagner took a steal in for a layup, then Smith drove for a bucket to trim the Crusaders’ edge to 74-73 with 23 seconds to go.
“Before the game, the coaches told me to keep shooting and they believed in me and what I could do,” said Wagner, a junior transfer from Temple College. “That helped my confidence a lot. I hadn’t been shooting ball too well, but just knowing they had confidence in me made a big difference.”
With UMHB up by a point, things got weird.
Wagner missed a pair of free throws with 12 seconds left, and LeTourneau dribbled to its end before calling a timeout.
The ensuing inbound pass was tipped around before UMHB’s Tilmon Gaddy dove on it, then was tied up with 1.6 seconds on the clock.
The possession arrow pointed the Yellowjackets’ way, but following a LeTourneau timeout, it was discovered that the arrow was incorrect.
Then on the inbound after a UMHB timeout, Gaddy took the ball from the official and just dropped it to the floor in front of him. The clock inadvertently started before referee Brent Smith blew his whistle.
Smith correctly ruled that the clock couldn’t start until the ball had been touched in bounds but incorrectly said the ball should belong to LeTourneau.
What followed next was a lengthy discussion, a video replay for the officials, a ruling that it was still the Yellowjackets’ ball, another video replay for both head coaches and finally a ruling that it should be the Crusaders’ ball with 1.6 on the clock.
This time, Gaddy lobbed a long pass to Burgart, who hauled it in as time expired.
“I have no idea what Tilmon was doing,” DeWeese said. “I think the official was originally trying to say that the five-second count had expired before anybody touched the ball. But the count stops as soon the passer lets it go.
“Then he tried to say that Tilmon had touched the ball. But Tilmon hadn’t, and that’s what I wanted to show them on the video the second time.”
It was a choppy finish to an otherwise entertaining game.
Gaddy and Neiman Ford scored 13 and 15 points, respectively, for the Crusaders off the bench.
Jesse Hayes added 16 points and JJ Rockmore had 10 for the Yellowjackets.
UMHB will try to stretch its home winning streak to 17 when it hosts East Texas Baptist at 4 p.m. Saturday.
edrennan@temple-telegram.com
