Nine days after clinching its second straight American Southwest Conference West Division title, No. 15-ranked Mary Hardin-Baylor capped its record-setting regular season Saturday afternoon with a 70-59 victory over McMurry at Mayborn Campus Center.
Next for the Crusaders (22-3 overall, 19-2 ASC) is the conference tournament, which begins Friday at Mayborn Campus Center - where UMHB has won 24 straight games dating to 2006.
“It feels good to finally be able to focus on the conference tournament,” said 6-10 senior post Ryan Burgart, who had 13 points, seven rebounds and three blocks to help the Crusaders win their 11th straight. “Coach (Ken DeWeese) has been constantly telling us that we have to focus on the next game and not the tournament. And that’s easier said than done.”
For most of the first half against McMurry (12-13, 9-12), nothing was easy for UMHB. The Crusaders committed five turnovers in the first 5 minutes and gave up three consecutive 3-pointers to Alex Robles to fall behind 9-0.
After another giveaway resulted in a Robles jumper near the 12-minute mark, DeWeese made wholesale substitutions.
In came the five-man platoon of Zane Johnston, J.T. Fletcher, Neiman Ford, Tim Lytle and Michael Ivey, who provided a much-needed spark.
“We weren’t getting any stops defensively at that point,” DeWeese said of the personnel change. “It just seemed like we had slow feet and were in the wrong places, so we had to change it up.”
The deficit had been whittled to five points by the time the next group subbed in, and five points each by Burgart and Tanner Morgan gave the Crusaders a 31-29 halftime lead.
With Robles mustering only seven points during the final 30 minutes, McMurry hung around by hitting six second-half 3-pointers.
But Burgart’s two-handed dunk put the Crusaders up 37-36 with 14:21 remaining and they never trailed again.
Johnston finished with 13 points on 5-for-5 shooting - 3-for-3 from long range - Fletcher added nine and Tilmon Gaddy had eight to go with nine rebounds.
UMHB will be making its eighth appearance in the ASC Tournament - and looking for its second straight trip to the NCAA Division III Tournament - when it opens the three-day event against East fourth seed East Texas Baptist (9-16) at 7:30 p.m. Friday.
The Crusaders, who reached the semifinals of last year’s tournament in Clinton, Miss., beat the Tigers 83-55 in their only meeting this season.
“It’s great to know that we’re playing the tournament here this year,” Burgart said. “That 8-hour bus ride to Mississippi is no fun at all. It should be a big help to be playing here.”
NOTES: UMHB’s previous best season on record was the 1992-93 campaign, when it went 23-8 as an NAIA competitor. . . . Friday’s other first-round games will pit Mississippi College (19-5) against Howard Payne (13-12) at noon, Texas-Dallas (17-8) against Concordia Texas (17-8) at 2 p.m. and Texas-Tyler (14-11) against Hardin-Simmons (14-11) at 5:30.
edrennan@temple-telegram.com
