Then with the outcome all but sealed, he brought down the house with a play that shook the shot clock and exemplified his effort.
Gaddy’s thunderous, rim-rattling, one-handed dunk capped a 26-point performance and provided an exclamation point in UMHB’s 86-74 victory over Sul Ross State at Mayborn Campus Center.
With the 15th-ranked Crusaders (13-3, 10-2) clinging to a precarious seven-point halftime lead, the 6-6 Gaddy poured in 19 second-half points to help UMHB win its 20th straight at home - a stretch that dates to December of 2006.
“We knew what type of player Tilmon was before the season started, then he backed that up by going out the first three or four games and really tearing it up,” Crusaders coach Ken DeWeese said. “And now he’s settled in, trying to do what we want rather than just playing instinctively.
“I like where he is right now. He has a good mix of what we’re trying to get him to do and what he wants to do.”
Gaddy - who was 8-of-12 from the field, including a 3-pointer, and 9-for-11 from the free-throw line - made his final bucket of the day a memorable one.
He caught a pass along the baseline on the left, took one step, exploded toward the rim and stuffed the ball home for a 72-51 UMHB lead with 7:30 remaining.
“My natural offense is just getting to the hole,” said Gaddy, who has scored at least 18 points in four straight games and has been held to single digits only once in the last 10. “If they give me a jump shot, then I’ll take it. But if I can get to the hole, then that’s what I’m going to do.”
UMHB maintained a 1½-game lead in the ASC West despite looking sluggish at times in the first half.
After Gaddy was fouled on a dunk and drained the ensuing free throw to give the Crusaders a 12-point lead with 2:30 left in the half, the Lobos (6-11, 5-8) cut the gap to 36-29 on an Art Gonzalez 3 followed a minute later by two free throws from Roderick Gunter with no time remaining on the clock.
“In the first half, we were less than good,” DeWeese said. “I thought we played much better in the second half.”
With leading scorers Gonzalez and Filiberto Torres held to eight and nine points, respectively - due in part to seven blocks by 6-10 post Ryan Burgart - Gunter’s 30-point output was all Sul Ross had.
It wasn’t nearly enough as Gaddy got help from Jason Wagner (11 points), Burgart (10), David Ray (9) and J.T. Fletcher (9) for UMHB, which shot 52 percent in both halves.
“We were focused on Torres and Gonzalez, and Gunter got on a roll,” DeWeese said “We could have focused on him, but we knew if Torres and Gonzalez got on a roll then we could be in trouble.”
Gaddy started the second half with a 3 from the left corner and UMHB gradually extended its lead from there. The Crusaders were up by 22 points at 85-63 with 2:47 remaining before the Lobos cut into the deficit against UMHB’s bench in the final minutes.
The Crusaders will hit the road Thursday to face Schreiner in Kerrville, starting a stretch of five games in a 10-day span.
“This can be a tough part of the season because you’ve already played quite a few games and now you have a bunch of games in a short amount of time,” DeWeese said. “We’ll do some things different and change some stuff up to keep the guys fresh. You have to make sure you work hard on the things you need to improve, but you don’t want to work the guys into the ground.”
edrennan@temple-telegram.com
