This time, the Crusaders finally arrived.
UMHB played stifling defense, crashed the boards and attacked the basket, overwhelming Ozarks (Ark.) en route to an 83-69 victory at Mayborn Campus Center.
The win snapped the first three-game losing streak in three years for the Crusaders (1-3, 1-1 American Southwest Conference), who looked more like the team deserving of their No. 10 preseason ranking.
“We were just more consistent on both ends, especially the defensive end,” UMHB coach Ken DeWeese said. “In the previous three games, almost every time down on defense we had at least one guy and sometimes two who weren’t doing their job.
“It wasn’t that they weren’t wanting to do their job in the other games, but they just weren’t. Tonight it wasn’t like that.”
UMHB trailed for only the first 42 seconds of the game and took control with a dominating stretch to close out the first half.
Holding a 23-20 lead, the Crusaders held the Eagles (2-4, 1-1) scoreless for the final 6:55 before intermission to take a 37-20 advantage into halftime.
Senior wing Tilmon Gaddy scored six of his team-high 19 points during the run to cap a first 20 minutes in which UMHB outrebounded Ozarks 30-6.
The Eagles’ scoreless drought stretched into the opening minutes of the second half, by which time Gaddy had hit two more buckets to push the gap to 42-20.
The lead got as high as 24 points and never dipped below 16 until the closing minutes.
“We had been hesitant to take control of the ball on the offensive end in the last games,” DeWeese said. “It didn’t look like that tonight.”
Gaddy also grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds, and freshman post Greg Wiernas had nine points and 11 boards in his first career start.
Junior guard Zane Johnston added nine points - including the game’s only dunk - and forwards Rich Moore and Michael Ivey and point guard Matt Caskey had eight apiece for the Crusaders, who shot 48 percent to the Eagles’ 36.
“We felt like things just hadn’t been going our way, so we worked really hard in practice and it paid off,” Johnston said. “It feels good to win again.”
Jeremy Clark scored 22 points and Andre Williams chipped in 11 for Ozarks, which made 13 3-pointers but couldn’t overcome a 56-28 disadvantage on the boards.
About the only downer for the Crusaders was an injury to senior forward David Ray, who scored five points in the first 5 minutes.
Ray - second on the team in scoring at 11 points per game - was helped to the training room after twisting his knee, then spent the rest of the game sitting at the end of the bench.
“They’re going to do an MRI on Tuesday,” DeWeese said. “All I know is that the doctor said it’s not good.”
UMHB hits the road to face East Texas Baptist on Saturday and LeTourneau next Monday before returning home to host the Cru Holiday Classic, which starts Dec. 29.
