Instead, the Crusaders took care of business. And in doing so, they extended their home winning streak to 21 games and - as an added bonus - padded their lead in the American Southwest Conference West Division.
Jason Wagner scored 18 points, Tilmon Gaddy added 14 and UMHB put together a 25-7 run midway through en route to a 75-54 victory over Texas Lutheran on Saturday afternoon at Mayborn Campus Center.
With their win over the last-place Bulldogs (1-17 overall, 1-13 ASC) - and Howard Payne’s win against Hardin-Simmons - the Crusaders (15-3, 12-2) extended their West lead to 2½ over HSU.
“It is more difficult to get up for some games than others, but you still have to play them,” said UMHB coach Ken DeWeese, whose squad hasn’t lost at home since Dec. 5, 2006. “You still have to make sure you execute or else Texas Lutheran walks out of here 2-16.”
The Crusaders executed by softening up the Bulldogs’ 2-3 zone with six first-half 3-pointers, then exploiting the zone’s creases on the inside.
Wagner had the first and last 3s of the opening half, then drained two more in a span of 54 seconds early in the second half.
“It was big to hit some shots early because we were hoping to get them out of the zone or at least loosen it up,” Wagner said. “And making those shots helped get my confidence going.”
After Brad Howard’s 3 cut TLU’s deficit to 21-19 with 5:39 to go in the first half, UMHB scored 25 of the next 32 points during an 8-minute stretch that spanned halftime.
Gaddy scored 10 of his 14 points during the run, making a living in the zone’s soft spot along the baseline. He followed Wagner’s second of back-to-back 3s a minute later with an alley-oop dunk off a feed from Neiman Ford that made it 50-30 less than 5 minutes into the second half.
“I think a month ago we were really bad against a zone,” DeWeese said. “Right now, we’re seeing it more, we’re working on it more and handling the zone pretty well.
“One reason we are is because we’re shooting better from the perimeter. Then we can dump it inside, and we have guys in there that can score also.”
Tim Lytle had nine points - all from long range - for the Crusaders, who shot 41 percent from beyond the arc.
The Bulldogs were led by Howard’s 14 points and Michael Hill’s 13.
The game was UMHB’s second in a stretch of five during 10 days. Next up is a battle Tuesday against third-place Concordia Texas in Austin.
When they met last month in Belton, the Crusaders outlasted the Tornados for a 104-102 double-overtime win in a game that featured 14 lead changes and 17 ties.
“Their style is so different from anybody else we play that you can’t duplicate it in practice,” DeWeese said of Concordia’s up-tempo, quick-shooting style. “We don’t need to work our guys with a really long practice anyway. We’ll work on some things we need to work on, and then we know what to expect on Tuesday.”
Added Wagner: “We were just saying in the locker room that we wish we could leave tonight and go play them. But instead we’ll get a little work in and then come out Tuesday ready to play.”
edrennan@temple-telegram.com
